When Worlds Collide
by CleverNickname
Summary: Maria Adams meets Helen Murdoch and Mena.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is really just a "what if" thing we've toyed with. What if Maria met Helen and Mena? What if they had to live together? Done with redplanetes permission, ok sorta with her permission. Alright, she doesn't know. Don't tell her!

redplanetes: don't tell me what?

CleverNickname: O.O;;

redplanetes: Tell me!

CleverNickname: …

redplanetes: Do you want to go to the cornfield?!

CleverNickname: NO NOT THE CORNFEILD!

Also you may notice that I recycle lines, scenes and themes a lot. Hell this is a fanfic, so technically everything is borrowed.

AND this fic SHOULD be considered half of redplanetes because they are her characters and this sprang from her tolerance of my silly RPing games with her. Thank you red, you are a huge inspiration. (please not the cornfield!)

PART 1

_Helen bent down to rip open the man's stomach. He was still alive. She could smell fear. Delicious._

_Just as she was going to devour the meal she heard a sound. She turned to see a young woman gazing at the scene in horror. Annoyed, she rose to face the trespasser. The girl ran away._

_Something was odd, she could smell it. The girl had a scent. He could smell her fear, but she had __that__ scent. __**She had **__**that**__** scent!**_

_She couldn't let her get away._

Normally it would have been a very homey scene.

The older woman was sitting comfortably with the younger one. They were both sewing and talking and joking. At first glance you would notice the odd implement on the older woman's leg, at the second you would notice the odd topic of conversation, then you would notice the flesh eating monster walking in and out of the room occasionally.

If you had dared to move closer he would then see the odd colored leather that was being worked with was human skin.

The younger woman, a girl really, was using an old fashioned sewing machine, the older one was sewing by hand, since her handicap didn't allow her to work the treadle. The conversation continued steadily, occasionally bursting into loud laughs or conspiratorial snickers. However there was no shy, feminine giggling. Everything was frank and open.

"Like this?" asked the girl, holding up her unfinished handiwork to the other woman. She tilted her head and nodded, "still a little crooked but much better."

"Thanks!" said the girl enthusiastically. She peered at the seam, "even with the machine cross stitching is hard." She concluded

"Yeah," the older woman agreed, "but just keep trying Menaed, this is a great idea."

"I know" agreed the girl proudly, "I don't really care about fashion but, God, these are gonna look awesome." The older woman merely nodded to that.

The conversation between the two stopped as both women looked up from their sewing to watch the monster walk happily into the room.

"_Wow,"_ thought Helen, the older woman. Walking happily was the only way to describe it. The monster had a spring in his step that she had rarely seen, and never to such a degree. The monster was excited, antsy, _cheerful_.

"Good hunting?" asked Helen, thinking that was the reason for his pleased mood. _Musta been a hell of a catch._

To their surprise the monster laughed. "_Very_ good." He said with a grin.

Both women sensed his double meaning, but of course they couldn't discern it exactly, they could sense his excitement though.

"Don't you look like the cat that's caught the canary," Helen observed, "what makes you so happy?"

"Secret." the Creeper said simply with another, broader grin.

"I would love to know your secret." Helen said in a low voice with plain interest, but he simply smiled again and walked silently off. The women knew better to pry; the monster had decided not to tell them, that was that. Yet also, without words, their lover conveyed that they would soon be privy to his secret anyway, they merely had to be patient.

Over the next few days the monsters mood didn't disappear, instead it grew, along with other things.

"God", said a dazed Mena afterwards to her aunt. "I would like whatever he's taking!" Helen could merely nod in agreement, her curiosity running wild. Of course she loved the monster's sudden increase in energy and the marathon sex that had resulted, but she had no idea what had caused it, she never saw it before. Her niece bombarded her with questions, since she considered her aunt the resident monster "expert" but Helen was just as stumped as the younger woman.

"I've never _seen_ him so horny; he usually takes time off to eat at least." Helen said, musing about his bizarre (_well more bizarre than usual)_ behavior.

"Maybe," Mena speculated, "maybe because of us he has more leisure time." When Helen looked puzzled the young woman elaborated. "Well with us he can hunt more efficiently right? Since we help he has more time, and well, how would you spend your spare time?" She winked to emphasize her point and both women burst into laughter.

Later on private reflection Helen thought that view was probably wrong. Although they had a surplus of food from the roadhouse the Creeper still killed and hunted, and didn't seem terribly interested in cold meat. Besides he was an efficient hunter with or without his companions. For some reason she remembered her dream at that moment.

"There's something else going on here," Helen said later during their brief bout of free time, "something that has to do with his 'secret'" Mena agreed, her face shining with unabashed inquisitiveness, but like her aunt she did not probe the monster with unnecessary questions about the "secret".

The mystery soon deepened however. One day, after one of his many absences the Creeper came home with a new weapon.

"Whoa cool machete!" Mena cried. "Where'd ya get it?"

The monster gave his Cheshire-cat grin. "Woman." He gave as an answer.

There was a moment of puzzlement, then Helen had a realization, _he got it from a woman?_ It made sense; the machete was obviously a human creation. It looked well made, but it didn't seem to have a personality, as if was a standard factory prepared. The monster obviously agreed with Helen, for he began modifying it immediately.

Automatically Helen looked for a woman's corpse, but the Creeper had brought none in with him. She wondered if it might be in his truck, then realized there might be no corpse. He night have stolen it, or it might have been a gift…

She shot a look toward her monster who immediately smiled, understanding her thoughts instantly. Her heart raced knowing it had to do with the "secret".

Mena touched the machete gently. "High quality steel" she announced," very sharp", the monster let her examine it more closely, "it's odd that it's painted black, plastic handle, doesn't look very used, obviously made by humans" she said quickly reaching the same conclusion her aunt did. Helen felt a welling of pride.

Mena continued to fiddle with the new machete, "you say you got it from a woman?" The Creeper merely smiled non-committaly and took it back. Helen saw Mena's face change; she realized this too was about the "secret."

Both women kept themselves admirably contained, but they finally broke after the monster announced, almost casually "no sleep."

At first they thought he was talking about them. He didn't want them to sleep? But then he elaborated, "will not sleep. I" he said gesturing to himself.

Helen involuntarily held her breath and glanced at her niece, who looked equally stunned. She realized that his time was drawing to a close, but he just said…

"You won't sleep anymore?" she asked in disbelief, just to make sure. The Creeper nodded in satisfaction.

Helen had to sit down, fast.

She was a woman who accepted what could not be changed, despite it being the thing she wanted with a passion few people would, or could ever understand, her time with the monster was set. There was only a small amount of it. She couldn't stop it from happening, trying to would be as foolish as trying to stop the tides, and Helen Murdoch was not a foolish woman.

But now, _now_…

Helen looked up from the floor, Mena wasn't surprised to see her eyes shining, she was reeling herself.

"How did you do this?" she whispered.

The Creeper took her hand and pulled her up.

"Show you." he promised.


	2. Chapter 2

PART 2

They were in the front seat, bouncing along as usual. Helen knew were they were going. They stopped shortly afterwards to his car graveyard. She wondered silently what he would show them.

_Well, yeah_, she thought when they came to it. He wanted to show them a car. Obvious.

However this wasn't like the others. It wasn't junked. He seemed to have done things with it though. The hood was up and some parts were missing. Mena kneeled down and checked under the suspension for her aunt, "Leaf spring's gone." She confirmed.

Helen walked slowly around the car leaning heavily on her cane. _No personality_, she thought, just like the machete. It was nice, not so brand new and dark blue, that's all she could say about it. However when Mena opened it and she inspected it further she ate her words.

It wasn't clean, it wasn't messy. A small matching blue rosary hung on the mirror, it was decorated tastefully. It's normally boring insides had been modified. A personality had been imposed on the car, but subtly. It was nothing they would ever choose, totally unlike Mena's souped up, flashy Mustang, or the Creeper's truck, which screamed out his personality. Circling around it once more, Helen saw an anonymous machine stamped vehicle that looked so quiet and assuming on the outside, she wasn't sure she'd notice it.

Helen had a sudden, small respect for it. It was camouflaged. She wondered if it was for hunting, like Mena's new car, then caught sight of the rosary again and decided against it. She knew it belonged to a woman. It made sense, and it just smelled, just _seemed_ to belong to a woman.

Without a word of explanation the Creeper led them back to the BEATNGU truck when they indicated they were done searching. He swung the truck south and drove quickly.

Helen asked nothing, despite being wonderfully excited. She knew all would be explained. Mena betrayed some impatience of youth when she asked where they were going.

"House of Pain." The Creeper answered. Helen's mouth twisted in slight regret at the distance, but of course didn't complain. She simply settled in for the long drive and did not answer Mena's inquiring glance.

They arrived there a few hours later.

Mena moved quickly, bursting with curiosity. Helen was just as eager, but moved more slowly, _damn leg_, she thought at a twinge of pain. The Creeper led them through the front. For Mena's benefit he stopped and pointed at the Crucifix, "House of Pain" he explained.

"Ah-ahh!" said the girl, grinning at his cleverness.

He led them down to the basement; Helen smiled when she remembered him dumping bodies down the pipe all those years ago.

Mena began to speak; the Creeper immediately put his hand over her mouth. Rebuked Mena said nothing. Helen knew to keep silent also, and made an effort to walk more quietly down the stairs. She felt her curiosity grow.

The monster led them around the basement. The women smiled appreciatively at the décor. Helen wished it was a little brighter, but the Creeper did not light any candles, and of course they could not ask.

Finally he led the pair to a small lower corner of the basement. He moved extremely quietly.

At first they saw nothing. Slowly their eyes adjusted to the gloom. The Creeper pointed. At first Helen thought it was a bundle of clothes, and then she thought it was a corpse. This one was posed in a very odd way though. Instead of being spread out and nude she was curled up and clothed.

Then she saw breathing.

_We've got a live one_, Helen thought. Mena moved forward a little, eager, aggressive, and curious. Her eyes shined brightly, she was scrutinizing this person.

Swiftly the monster put a hand out to stop her. Surprised, Mena drew back, the monster kept her behind him. He was subtly positioning himself between them and the woman.

_This one is not prey_…What exactly was going on here? The Creeper seemed very much interested in keeping her alive. He wouldn't allow his companions to disturb, touch or even get close to this newcomer. Helen began to wonder who she was.

The Creeper's companions scrutinized the neophyte carefully as the light would allow, the woman didn't make it any easier. She was curled up very tightly. To Helen it seemed a pathetic position, defensive, weak. She was not big, very petite actually. Her face was covered by a curtain of dark hair, longer than Mena's. She seemed to be asleep.

Helen thought the woman would wake up soon; the beast whose lair she was slumbering in seemed to demand all attention. But no, to Helen's mild surprise she continued sleeping, or at least ignoring them. She began to feel vaguely offended.

The monster tugged on her elbow gently; she along with Mena retreated from the sleeping woman. At one last backward glance Helen determined she was fairly young, but an approximate age she could not guess. He paused briefly to pick up something off his table then herded the women back up to the upper room and outside.

The sun was just beginning to dip low; the wind blew refreshing through their hair and shook the leaves.

"What was that about?" Mena demanded. Helen looked expectantly at him also.

"Child." He cried in elation, and then pulled out the machete with flair. Helen immediately liked it. The horridly boring plastic handle had been ripped off the tang. In place was a snow white bone one with a distinctive pommel. She at once saw how it offset the weight of the blade for a better blow as well as provided an excellent blunt weapon. A two-in-one.

But what drew the two women closer around the new and improved machete was the aesthetic purpose the handle now had. The white contrasted nicely with the black blade and was carved to boot.

Draped around the handle was a woman. Helen knew instantly who it was. Her long dark hair was swept all around her. Her body was bent to an absurd degree in the handle, her stomach protruding into the pommel. Her eyes were huge with fear or bliss or both. She could see through the strange woman's body. Helen thought it was organs at first, but then she saw a baby. With wings.

"Oh. My. God." She said softly. Unbelievable.

"What?!" her niece demanded, still not understanding.

"That woman," Helen said shakily, still doubting it herself, "is pregnant."

Mena blinked. "So?"

"It's his."

A/N: I demand reviews


	3. Chapter 3

PART 3

_I don't know where I am, I don't know if reality exists, I may be in a dream, all I know is that I'm in pain and I'm going to die_

Maria Adams was in hell. But vowed she would escape.

At least that how she thought of it, presided over by a demon, hung with silent screaming souls, cruel torture, what else could it be but hell?

_Maybe Xibalba_, she thought wildly, _it's cold, there's even a bat demon_. She remembered the story from her childhood. There was a river of blood and of pus, houses of pain.

She felt her muscles cramp as she shimmied up the drain pipe. Her hands and feet made loud echoing noises against the metal. She had to hurry.

He never left her alone for too long, he came to check on her constantly, sniffing and licking her like some travesty of a pet dog. When she got out of this hell she would run, escape. Her muscles screamed as she moved with tear-inducing difficulty. She heard a chuckle, Maria jerked her head up.

Her captor had returned.

The girl dropped instantly crying, terrified. Her mind raced wildly as she scrabbled away, trying to remember anything useful, anything that would allow her to fight or escape or at least resist. Hell, Xibalba, the Creeper…

He shoved himself down the pipe, she could hear him. Maria screamed involuntarily again as she ran blindly, there had to be another way out, but of course he was far too fast. Instinctively she ducked and tried to defend herself. He grabbed her, uncurling her body as easily as she could peel a banana. She continued to cry then began striking him pointlessly.

Ignoring her aggression he lifted her up and brought her close. His nose confirmed what common sense told him, she was afraid. It confused him and caused his some distress, he couldn't understand it, but he shrugged off her actions and pushed her down onto the table.

Now screaming and thrashing his new woman needed to be restrained.

He quickly snapped the well-oiled chains in place. Maria couldn't struggle but she could cry, which she did abundantly in fear and self pity.

The monster of course had no compassion, he could project himself into other minds only as far as his nature would allow, he could guess what people were going to do in order to better catch and eat them. Empathy even as a concept was far beyond his mind.

Still he leaned over her and tried to remove the tears by licking them off. However he soon became frustrated at the Sisyphean task. As soon as he licked away her tears fresh ones appeared. And his undertaking to remove any signs of distress only upset her further.

Trying a different approach he leaned forward and wiped her face with his forearm. She can smell his earthy scent and moldy coat, she twisted away. He held her head still and wiped/ smeared the tears away.

_He doesn't want me to cry?_ Maria thought with confused outrage. She didn't want him to keep rubbing her face but how could she not cry?

Still she forced the tears to stop, however sometimes they leaked through. She felt him adjust himself on top of her; he sniffed the air over her. She dared to look at his face. For a moment Maria thought he had gone insane, his eyes were wide almost rolling, his mouth hung open and sucked in air, _madness, seizure_ the young woman thought, unable to adequately explain such passion. She never saw it before in her short life.

She suppressed her tears but let out a low fearful moan. The demon was ecstatic as he let out a small shriek and pulled off his trousers, the girl caught sight of his favorite implement of torture. _Please God nooo._

She bit her lips and turned her head trying to hide her shame. _How could this possibly happen _she thought? She had no idea of this before…

He sniffed the air loudly and promptly lunged, plunging himself into her.

She let out a wailing cry and shut her eyes. It wasn't as bad as the first time, but God was it tight, the demon began his thrusts, slowly.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to open her eyes. Some more tears escaped, _try to be brave_ it hurt, a little.

What was far worse was his face; it was so terrible, never having seen anything like it. Bewildered, the girl placed his emotion as hatred. His eyes were glaring down at her. She whimpered and tried to press herself into the table.

He sighed/screeched and closed his eyes, still sniffing. He bent his head back and continued to move with ease in his chosen position. She could feel him rubbing against her. Maria blushed in embarrassment, reminded once again of a spot she never before knew existed, and wished she could forget.

His eyes were huge, wide with terrifying lust. He bent over and licked off the sweat that was starting to well up in her skin as well as any remaining tears.

She moaned again as she felt the slimy tongue move over her. Burning was the only word that her confused mind characterized this feeling. A sensation so intense it nearly hurt, but somehow fell just short of actual pain. She felt her muscles clamp down on him, trying to draw him in further.

His closed his eyes as he began to speed up his movements. Maria felt the pressure, the heat inside of her build up. Her body worked faster in rhythm with his. He was smelling her now, over her hair, her face, her heaving breasts, and her skin. She was reminded vaguely of an addict snorting blow. Every tiny puff of air crashed against her, setting her skin on fire. She had never ever felt anything like it. _I'm going to burn up!_ She moaned.

Still the Creeper's frenzy increased. She saw his coat began to shake; his wings were erupting from him, starting to beat the air uncontrollably. His thrusts became so frantic his hat finally toppled off onto the writhing woman below. He began to howl.

For the first time they came together. Maria Adams began screaming, or was the monster screeching again? His wings beat in time with each wave of pleasure. Once again disbelief washed over her, _how could such a thing exist?_ Her face was now washed by the tears of orgasm. What an atrocious blissful feeling this was.

When it finally ended both partners came slowly to themselves again. Maria felt violently shaky, almost ill. She saw was blue-black blood dripping from the beast's mouth, but was far too gone to register that fact and become afraid. he was leaning forward...

She closed her eyes as his forehead touched hers. She began to feel disturbed again as he pressed his face against her, nuzzling. However she was far too winded to protest. Her breath still came out in shallow gasps.

When she foolishly opened her eyes and looked into his she winced and turned her head. The woman wondered what she had ever done to this monster to offend it so badly; she wondered why it looked at her with eyes wide with such hatred.

When he finally got up she realized his claws were digging into her skin. She flinched when they jerked out but sighed in relief as his weight lifted from her body. The monster began to walk away. She let out a small sound, just to get his attention. She was still stuck on the table. She started struggling out of the chains.

The Creeper stopped, turned around and slowly walked back. Maria felt a thrill of fear but did not regret her actions. He also released her when he was done. The girl desperately tried to get up. The monster reached her table, picked up his fallen Stetson hat then put it on with a roguish wink at the girl.

Maria stopped struggling, miserable.

Just another day in hell.

Meanwhile

_Wherever he laid his hat was his home.  
(And when he died) All he left us was alone."_

The two women clasped hands and circled each other, happily swaying to the music.

_"I said, __**Papa**__ was a rolling stone. Wherever he laid his hat was his home.  
(And when he died) All he left us was alone."_

_"I said, __**Papa**__ was a rolling stone. Wherever he laid his hat was his home.  
(And when he died) All he left us was alone."_

The two belted out the chorus and laughed, delighted with the lyrics. The older moved more awkwardly than her niece, but the copious amounts of scotch seemed to dull any discomfort caused by the dancing.

Mena grinned happily as she removed _The Temptations_ tape, and fished around their motley collection of music. "What next Aunty Hel?" asked this girl.

Helen shrugged and swilled the last of the booze. "Surprise me, just make sure it goes with the theme of our little celebration." The girl nodded and continued to fish around, grinning mischievously when she pulled out a worn CD and popped it in. "Oh you'll love this."

Helen set down the bottle in anticipation, eagerly waiting for the music, forgetting to be careful what you wish for.

_Papa I know you're going to be upset  
'Cause I was always your little girl  
But you should know by now  
I'm not a baby_

"Blahhhugh…" Helen sneered in surprise and disgust, while her niece howled at the priceless look on her face.

"Turn that shit off Mena, you wanna torture me?"

Laughing Mena cranked it up and started dancing "She's not _that _bad, Aunt Hel." The girl countered "Lighten up, broaden your tastes a little" and sang/hummed along:

"_Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble deep  
Papa don't preach, I've been losing sleep  
But I made up my mind, I'm keeping my baby, oh  
I'm gonna keep my baby, mmm..."_

Helen gagged in only semi-mock horror and made the sign of the cross over her ward. "Begone demon, leave my niece, spare her soul!" cried the older woman then proceeded to gibber some pretend Latin. At that point both women were laughing hysterically.

"I-hahahaa-I thought it was a-a-a-ahahahaah-appropriate." She grinned and held up a rosary, which Helen realized, was the one from the car; Mena snickered, and fingered the stolen beads. "It seemed only right for our new guest."

_Daddy, daddy if you could only see  
Just how good he's been treating me  
You'd give us your blessing right now  
'Cause we are in love, we are in love, so please_

Both women laughed again. Mena searched around, "any more booze?" she asked eyeing the empty scotch bottle. Helen shook her head and shut off the annoying song with the end of her cane. "I think you've had enough, if you're starting to like this crap." Mena opened her mouth, possibly to argue some more but a loud rumble announced a new presence.

"Dad's home!" Mena cried, Helen laughed gently again as Mena bounded with excitement towards the incoming monster.

"Hey Papa" Helen growled as she limped over afterwards. "Bring anything special home?" The Creeper grinned and raised his eyebrows to the white sheet wrapped body on his shoulder. It squirmed slightly.

"Heh" said Mena, "but when are you gonna bring that other special thing home?" She looked with plain interest behind him, hoping to see the woman there. The Creeper grunted as he heaved the barely alive man onto his desk.

Both women were disappointed, but they merely circled around their lover and inquired. "Do anything else special today?"

The Monster considered, smirked, then pulled out the chalk board and wrote "PLANTED SEEDS"

Mena looked puzzled, Helen burst into laughter

"What's so funny?" demanded the girl, her aunt whispered in her ear.

"oh, heh heh heh." She snickered and shook her head. She loved the monsters way with words.

The Creeper wiped his previous message clean and wrote a new one "HEARD MUSIC, PLAY MORE." Mena laughed again, "See! He liked it!"

Helen rolled her eyes, "We are_ not_ listening to that song again!' "Okay, okay" Mena agreed, "sheesh."

"Make sure it goes with the theme too!" Helen barked, Mena began listing out choices: "Cats in the Cradle?"

"Pass" replied Helen.

"ummm Father & Son-Cat Stevens", the older woman imitated gagging.

"Oookay, how 'bout, lemme see-ah!" She held up a case. "I don't think our friend would object to some Queen." The girl popped it in.

_a word in your ear, from father to son  
hear the words that I say  
I fought with you, fought on your side  
long before you were born  
joyful the sound, the word goes around  
from father to son, to son_

Both women hummed or sang as best they could. The Monster swayed slightly in time, looking rather thoughtful as he stuffed liver into his mouth.

_kings will be crowned, the word goes around  
from father to son, to son_

_and the voice is so clear, time after time it leaps  
calling you, calling you on  
don't destroy what you see, your country to be  
just keep on building on the ground that's been won_

The Creeper finished eating very quickly. The song wound down. Helen began yawning slightly.

_joyful the sound, the word goes around  
from father to son, to son..._

Helen was thinking, thinking of the future, the woman she saw. She was thinking about sleep.

Then she felt the breath near her shoulder. Mena eyes widen as she looked past her aunt.

_Sleep, what sleep?_ She chuckled to herself, and allowed herself to be fondled by her unusual lover, sighing in deep happiness. Mena smiled slightly to herself, happy for her aunt but a little annoyed that she was now expected to make herself scarce for a while. She got up stretched and walked casually passed the laughing couple.

Or tried to. A rough hand yanked her to the ground and dragged her over.

"Where you going?" rumbled the voice in her ear. Mena shivered and grinned.

Later

Helen woke up late, or early, depending on how you looked at it. She yawned stretched and hauled herself up from beside her sleeping niece.

_I wonder where he is ?_ She grabbed her cane and limped outside.

The moon was astonishingly bright, despite the fact that it was waning. She loved the country night, no light pollution. Just the moon, stars and milky river across the sky.

She sat, simply observing, until she felt her friend behind her. "Hey." She greeted and patted the ground beside her.

The creature squatted down next to her but said nothing. Helen didn't care she just enjoyed his company. They both observed the moon, finally her friend commented. "Going."

Helen was nonplussed, "pardon?" she asked.

The Creeper pointed to the moon, then made a motion with his hand, indicating it's eminent disappearance.

"Ahhh," said Helen nodding, the slight worry over his comment fading.

The Creeper observed the moon again for a few minutes then wrote, "USED TO BE BIGGER-LONG TIME AGO" Helen smiled, and replied, "You must have seen its cycle more than a thousand times."

She saw a flash of teeth in the dark, he wiped the slate clean and wrote "WHEN IT SHINES I AWAKE" "Yes" agreed Helen, almost squirming with pleasure, "but now you don't have to sleep, because of the baby, because of her." The Creeper grinned again, but with a hint of lasciviousness in it.

Helen sighed in bliss, more time with the Monster, exactly what she wished for. She wondered what a baby monster would be like. She already loved the sound of it. One thing was bothering her though, Mena too.

"When do we get to see her?" she asked. The Creeper blinked. "**Already** saw." He answered.

Helen sighed, "Nooo I mean when do we get to _meet_ her? When do we get to _talk _to her, when will you bring her over?"

The Creeper said nothing for a long time. Helen began to feel a slight disquiet, coupled with more curiosity. Finally she heard the scratching of chalk:

"CRIES"

Helen was astounded, "you-you mean she cries, with actual tears, like boo-hoo, whiny crying?" The Creeper nodded then wrote "TRIED TO RUN TO DAY" Helen became indignant. "What an idiot then, to run from a sexy beast like you!"

He leered, but quickly wrote (Helen could sense his anxiety) "CRIES, DOES NOT EAT, RUNS" He paused then concluded "LITTLE WILD HUMAN"

Helen laughed at that. "Well that settles it, I'd love to meet this wild human, bring her over! As soon as possible." But she sensed apprehension again.

"What? You're afraid this wild woman would attack us or somethin'?" she asked half jokingly. She eyed the monster steadily trying to gauge his reactions.

He paused, somewhat uncertain; he picked up his chalk but wrote nothing. He seemed-hesitant, _almost _like he didn't want to be rude.

It dawned on Helen, "Ah-aaahhh, you're afraid _we'll_, attack _her_!" The monster smiled slightly, and tilted his head back and forth.

"Well don't worry, I know better than that, I just want to meet her, we can have some heart to heart girl talk." The monster looked anxious, and then Helen realized what she had just said. "I don't mean I'll rip out her heart or anything!" She assured, "I just want to talk to her. You know what? Bring her over to my house that might make it easier on her." The Creeper nodded then turned his eyes towards the Catacombs, _and her?_ Helen caught his meaning, "don't worry about Mena, she's mannered, when she wants to be, I'll keep her on a leash." Helen winked.

The monster smiled slowly, "Next day." He promised.

"Next day." Helen agreed. Mena would be happy, and she would love to meet the wild human who was foolish enough to try and leave her demonic lover, not that Helen believed she would ever get far. She playfully poked the Creeper, thanking him for agreeing to her request. He nipped at her ear.

The couple later watched the sun rise.

----------------------------------------------------

A/N: Hooray! My childish demand for reviews has paid off. Gore (violence not the ex vice president) will come **I promise**, but not for a little while longer.

The machete handle picture will be available upon review request.

Also Elsa Daniels will not be appearing, as I much as I loved her. Maybe she went out and got drunk with Reverend Henry.


	4. Chapter 4

PART 4

It was really starting to get to her. The fear the depression, she felt physically ill now. She didn't want to move, but she ran, _or tried to_. She didn't want to think about it.

He had finally let her down from the table, but still she was chained, she refused to move, not even to put clothes on _what's the point?_ She just curled up in sleep or blank misery

Before she might have paced as far as her bonds would allow her, now she didn't really care anymore. She just wanted to die.

_When _was all she could ask. _When will I be killed like them?_ She involuntarily looked at the corpses. She dreaded it, but hoped it would come soon. She couldn't stand this any longer.

He walked in very suddenly. Maria instantly curled up, _please, please._ Then as quickly as he came he left.

Maria sighed, disgusted at her own weakness. It was so bizarre, wanting to die then have natural self preservation kick in at exactly the wrong moment. She wondered if she would feel it, if it would hurt, if there would be an afterlife, _yes I believe that,_ would she go to heaven or hell?

She thought surely heaven, _I'm_ _not a great person but I'm not a bad person either,_ maybe she would see her mother…

The young woman paused her train of thought to wipe away tears.

She began comforting herself with the usual clichés, a better place, _anyplace is better than here,_ everyone has to die, _it was good, even if not very long,_ she would be away from HIM. By the time she was done comforting herself she accepted the inevitable.

Still she wondered. When the actual time came would she be passive? She thought yes, but then decided, no, she would probably fight. She winced at the thought. It would probably just make it more drawn out and torturous, he was far stronger than she. Besides _I don't even have a weapon._ The second she thought that something shiny caught her eye.

Her breathing hitched, it was her backpack, which she had desperately loaded with the bare essentials and tried to flee with. The backpack which the Creeper casually tossed her way.

That was not surprising though. What was surprising were her keys lying on top of them.

_Where did these come from?_ She thought. She struggled to recall. Then it came to her. When she ran she must have simply put them into her pocket, and then pulled it out to use the flashlight, stupid decision. The light showed the corpses, the corpses made her stop and stare_. Stupid_ she winced but did not focus on her past decisions. There was no point.

Her mind wandered down the memory again. What happened next she didn't remember. She must have dropped the keys, or put them in her pocket? She shook her head; she was way more concerned about the monster that was bearing down on her. The keys weren't important then. She either dropped them or they fell when her jeans were ripped off.

They were important now though.

She considered turning on the mini flashlight but decided against it, she didn't need to see more death. Besides she could feel what she needed.

_It looks so small_, she thought in disappointment, it was tiny, and she only used it to open boxes and letters. Although she figured she could have used in a self defense situation when she bought it.

She sat down weighing the object in her hand it, added fuel to her fight versus acceptance debate, she could use it or she could not.

Finally, wearily she decided to ultimately fight, she would probably do so involuntarily anyway. _What's more,_ thought the girl sticking out her chin (and a bit of her tongue too) _it may not matter to HIM, but I would rather die fighting_.

Her brave moment over, Maria curled up in despair again, ticking off the last seconds of her life, her fear congealing into determination.

He was a long time in coming, and she could hear him coming when she did. She mentally prepared herself; _this is it_, her hand squeezed tighter around the object in her hands.

The demon stomped down in his usually careless manner she watched him out of the corner of her eye. When he came to her she knew. He was done with whatever he was preparing; now he was coming for her, coming to kill her in some horrible manner. Maria felt her adrenaline surge.

The second before he reached for her she had a thought, _what if he's not?_ It didn't matter, she was still going to fight back, if it wasn't death it was violation.

The Creeper withdrew his hand, more in surprise then in pain. Capitalizing on his uncertainty his victim lunged swiftly as a striking snake and felt triumph when she felt herself dig into his flesh. She felt a sort of perverse pleasure in injuring him, even if it was superficial.

A normal man would have immediately backed away in pain; the Monster, however, lunged forward, still surprised. He thought this would be a simple procedure, now his once docile pet was now turning increasingly wild; he knew he had to stop this. Using just his weight he easily sent her sprawling. On her back she swung viciously at his face, hoping for an eye, she only nicked his chin.

She saw a blaze of white rushing down on her and for a moment thought it was death, then she felt the monster still on her the sheet wrapped around her. In a panic she punched a hole through the sheet but was effectively immobilized.

_I'm gonna die_, _I'm gonna die _she thought, he would kill her brutally for this. The Creeper began restraining her, apparently in a rage. She felt her chain wrap around her, it caught her throat, _so this is how!_, but he quickly removed it, secured it and pulled the sheet partly off her face so it didn't smother her.

Curiously the monster reached for the object in her hand.

He howled with laughter when he saw it. He had never seen one so small, what a silly brave, wild thing she was! He licked her face affectionately and pocketed the object. As an afterthought he picked up her backpack along with them.

Maria fainted as he took off.

The monster flew swiftly. He knew exactly where the other woman's house was; even now he could pick up a few bare trace molecules of their mouth watering scent, as well as a few other less important humans. But now the girl in his arms dominated his thoughts. He looked down at her.

Her kind was so rare. It was always a shock to stumble across them. And to find one while there were other extraordinary toys like the older woman and her niece? What a precious opportunity.

Now, the Breeder was being uncooperative lately; she cried, howling, flailing against him. She clawed at his face, she tried to run; today she tried to stab him. He couldn't really comprehend it. He didn't want to kill her, hasn't he made that obvious? He gave her every pleasure. And she went **willingly** into his lair.

When he kept her restrained she wept. When he approached her she curled up and kept silent. The Breeder had begun to vomit lately. She was becoming a drain on his time while ironically increasing it. He didn't need to hunt as much, but he was getting hungry and now she needed constant supervision.

He was sure the older woman would be a good guardian, the ways of humans were largely a mystery to him, and although he seldom needed to, complicated notions were possible to get across to them. He hoped the Breeder wouldn't be hurt or killed. They knew how much he needed her.

The older woman's house wasn't too far for his wings, but the sun had set long before The Breeder was still not awake, although her sleep seemed more peaceful. She no longer hung limply like a sheet. She had curled subconsciously into his chest.

Helen was nodding off, waiting for him, but she knew the moment he had landed on her property.

Her screen door squeaked noisily as she peered out. He was standing there, exactly like the first night (she shivered involuntarily in memory) except no clothes and another shape was with him.

"You're late!" she snapped in mock reproach. The Creeper did not move. She smiled broadly to show she was joking, "well, come on!" she beckoned him inside. He stepped forward eagerly.

The kitchen light flooded out the darkness, instantly illuminating the nightmare. She turned around and grinned. He pushed his nose against her face, sniffing, kissing, reacquainting himself with her scent.

"Ahhh" she sighed in bliss, then pushed him reluctantly away. On to business.

The girl was very interesting. She peered at her, The Creature held her out and partially removed the sheet to allow better observation. She was young, much younger than Helen initially guessed, closer to Mena age, _just a girl. _

But that's were the resemblance ended. Her hair was dark but much longer; the girl could have sat on it if she wanted to. She was also much shorter and darker. Helen could see the scars of sunburns on her nude body.

"Bring her in," Helen whispered automatically, not wanting to wake her. She led the Creeper into the guest /junk storage room. He peered around at mildl curiosity.

"Sorry for the mess," she said casually as she ripped off the cover and gestured to the bed. The Monster dumped the girl, whose limbs jerked a bit. Still asleep she adjusted them.

"Careful," Helen resorted to speaking in a low tone again as she pulled the sheets around the sleeper. The girl stirred slightly and curled into the bed.

Satisfied she wouldn't awake she turned back to the monster, who was standing nonchalantly amidst the mess. They grinned at each other.

"So," Helen asked, "what will you do now?"

"Hunt," the monster replied. "Eat." His grinned widened.

Helen laughed, "and _her_?" jerking her head toward the sleeping young woman.

The monsters grin faded slightly. "Later" he promised then seemed to try to convey a serious thought. To Helen's surprise he turned to a small backpack, opened it and pulled out a notebook and pen.

He flipped it open and immediately began scribbling; he gestured to the sleeping woman and showed the older one a message: MUST NOT BE HURT. The "must" was written larger than any other words.

Helen nodded to show that she understood. He wrote again.

MUST NOT RUN AWAY.

Helen half-closed her eyelids and smirked. "Oh don't worry; she'll stay nice and safe with me."

Satisfied the creature tossed the notebook away and moved in for what Helen though was a good-bye sniff, which soon turned into a passionate kiss, then a lick. Within a heartbeat both were entwined on the edge of the bed.

The moment was ruined, however, by a sudden subconscious whimper and kick from the sleeping woman, who must have picked up the sounds of the aroused monster even in her sleep.

Helen whispered, "We can't do this here." The monsters mouth twisted in regret. Helen peered over his shoulder, "The couch looks pretty good."

As she came to it she felt a gentle but firm hand on her neck He had a different position in mind.

_Thank God I took my pain meds_, Helen thought as she was bent over the back of the couch. Soon any coherent thought was blissfully driven out.

Maria stayed asleep.

--------------------

"Maria Silva Adams", Helen read aloud gazing at the notebook.

Inside it was random. A few sketches, a few completed pictures, sometimes just scribbles. A scrap of poetry or a lyric from a favorite song. There were some messages written in different handwriting, banal things like "we wuv u Mariiiiiia!" and a slightly more sophisticated "sorry you didn't get a yearbook, hope this will do!"

_Interesting_. Helen thought.

There were pictures, a dozen at least. Mostly cheap digital ones taped or glued on the pages. More professional looking pictures were on paper, photocopied. An old picture of a young beautiful Hispanic woman sat on the highly decorated first page. There were pictures of Maria with a bevy of laughing girlfriends, pictures of Maria in a bathing suit at the beach, pictures of her surrounded by what looked like family. There was even one with her in her white graduation costume, grinning like she just conquered the world.

All around the pictures, sketches and drawings were titles, notes, messages all written in a variety of colors and styles. Most were happy or silly or both. Helen gave a slight smile and flipped the page.

The next page was empty except for two things: a blue and gold sticker that said "_Wales U home of the Golden Eagles!"_ and to her surprise, a sketch of the monster. The monster was curled up, sleeping like a cat, underneath was a message. Helen read it.

"_I don't wanna die; I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all."_

Maria Adams awoke. Her eyes were huge as she gazed in shock in her surroundings, then frowned as she realized as she had never been here before.

"Where-?" she whispered in surprise as she gazed around. She took in everything in a few seconds, a crowded room filled with various miscellanea. Boringly normal. Maria blinked. No she had never been here before, where was she? She sat up, realizing she was on a bed, the sheet fell off, she was naked.

Her mouth went dry, her heart began to pound, and she felt dizzy as her confusion over where she was instantly gave way to fear. Uncontrolled and irrational as it felt, she knew she might not be safe yet. Maria fell back onto the stiff mattress and squeezed her eyes shut. She heard stomping sounds, like footsteps. She cringed and suppressed a whimper. The footsteps sounded odd irregular, but she heard them pass by the room she was in. She relaxed a fraction.

_Get up, now._ She ordered to herself. She did, swinging an adrenaline stiffened body out with (what sounded like) a loud thump. The girl saw her backpack. She rushed to it.

Underwear, a 36 hour bra, the old jeans with holes in them, a worn, but comfortable T-shirt. _Thank God I had the foresight to pack emergency clothes_. She felt immediately better and more confident with clothes on.

No sooner was she done did the door open. Maria immediately froze.

"Oh good you're awake!" It was a older woman, not extremely old but middle aged. Salt and pepper hair pulled back from her face. She had a huge, genuine, but somehow off- putting grin. An ivory cane was looped around her wrist, and something that greatly resembled a medieval torture device was on her leg. A tray was in her hands. She raised it slightly towards Maria.

"Peppermint tea?" she offered.

-------

Maria sat silently at the kitchen, staring at her steaming tea cup in blank shock.

Helen sat opposite of her, chowing down on a sort of roast beef sandwich with unrestrained gusto. Her cold eyes appraised Maria from time to time over her lunch. The girl only noticed that the woman had rather large canines. Her eyes drifted down to the cup of tea again. The air seemed stifling, she wondered if she was in a dream, everything seemed-

"Too hot for ya?"

Maria's arm flew out in a visibly exaggerated gesture of surprise. A large dollop of tea sloshed out of the cup and landed with a loud PLOP on the clean kitchen floor. Helen and Maria gazed at each other across the table.

For one infinitesimal moment there was a spiraling embarrassed silence.

Maria immediately fell onto her knees, apologizing profusely and largely incomprehensibly. She didn't have anything to clean the spill, so she rubbed the mess in a sort of panic. Helen placidly got up, grabbed an old rag and casually tossed it to her. She observed the girl shrewdly and silently, no "it's my fault," or "don't worry about it." Maria cleaned up and rinsed the towel out in the sink, Helen noticed her hands trembling.

"I-I'm sorry, I-d-d-didn't mean-"

"No use crying over it." Helen said, coolly cutting through her stutters. Maria merely nodded violently and continued to wring the washcloth out.

_What is wrong with her?_ Helen thought, mystified. Maria finished and returned to her seat, still shaking slightly. She gazed in a kind of horror at the tea cup. Finally, uneasily she pushed it away. Maria didn't know why she was here; she had no memory of it.

Gulping down the lump in her throat she ruthlessly stifled the sobs that threatened to overcome her. _There's nothing to cry about_, she gritted her teeth, and repressed her emotions. There really was nothing to cry about; wherever she was the Creeper wasn't here. Maria looked up, suddenly finally realizing the implications of that thought. _He's __**not**__ here-I'm…free._

Helen watched the girl curiously. She saw her shudder slightly; she seemed to be having some internal conflict.

She wondered if she was mentally ill, like she first suspected when the Creeper told her about her bizarre behavior. That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Helen usually found crazy people more straightforward to deal with than those who arrogantly defined themselves as "normal"-whatever that was. However Maria's odd moment seemed to have passed, the girl seemed to be on the verge of a smile. She looked eagerly at Helen.

"Where am I?" she asked, feeling hopeful but slightly anxious. Helen spread her hands as if it were obvious. "You're at my house."

"Well I gathered that," Maria sniffed dryly. "Where though? Where is your house?" Helen considered another "well duh" answer like "my house is right here. Can't you see it?" but decided against it. Instead she answered: "I'm in kind of a secluded spot, couple miles down the beaten path from Highway 9"

Maria sighed audibly; Highway 9 was something she understood, something she could relate to. It seemed enormously comforting to be able to mentally position herself. It meant she could guide herself to some place safe, away form here. She stood up abruptly, and walked around the kitchen.

"Can I use your phone?" she asked, clearly looking around for it. "It won't be long I promise I'll just-" Helen interrupted her by laughing softly. Maria stopped "what?"

Helen thought how presumptuous it was of her to assume such things. However she didn't dwell on that. Instead she replied blandly, "My phone hasn't worked in eleven years."

The look on her face was priceless, Maria actually gaped in shock. "Are you serious, I mean," she struggled, "how do you _live_?" Helen burst into loud laughter again. These people all thought the same way. It never ceased to be amusing.

Feeling slightly abashed Maria continued to pace slightly. She looked out the kitchen window. "Then could you, um, tell me where your nearest neighbor is? One who has a phone?" Helen laughter died down into snickers. "Well I could, but he's not that close, and he's been known to shot people who drop by unexpectedly. Plus," she added sensing her next question; my car doesn't work to good."

Maria face fell visibly in disappointment. Suddenly the need to get out and far away as possible overwhelmed her. She tried to calm down again. Shrewdly Helen noticed her reaction; she put on a mock angry expression. "What? Are you thinking I'm not good enough for you? Sorry there's no mall out here in Cowtown honey, but I'm trying the best I can. Next time I take in a poor lost girl I'll make sure I'll have Starbucks brand coffee."

As expected Maria's eyes widened and she stumbled over herself to apologize. "Oh, I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean, I mean I'm grateful, really…"

Helen barely suppressed another laugh.

"Look," she said calmly, soothingly, "you might be stuck out here in the boondocks for a while, so why not make the best of it?" Maria immediately began to protest despite being recently shamed. She looked at Helen with very wide eyes: "Oh no no I can't I really have to get going, it's very important."

"What, going to a university? Don't worry; I'm sure it will still be there when you get back."

Helen at once could see the terrible shock on Maria's face. Her eyes were beginning to cloud with suspicion. Calmly Helen pulled out the notebook (already with the pages the monster scribbled on removed and burned) and gave it back to her. "I hope you don't mind. I just wanted to see what kind of boarder I was taking in." Helen could see that she did mind, but she said nothing, hugging the notebook to her chest. When Helen turned to go Maria asked, "Where did you say you found me again?"

Helen smiled slightly. "I didn't."

Looking confused and suspicious as ever, Maria asked "but-?" Helen interrupted her again. "Look, you weren't looking so good, you were naked and freaked out, and crying." Helen lied, but she saw Maria's expression morph into fear, and shame and most importantly, belief. "So I figured you needed a place to stay for a while," Helen winced at that lame explanation but smoothed it over, "now I think the world would be a much better place if people minded their own business, sorry for prying into your book there, so I'm not gonna pry any further into your life. You should stay and rest until you recover from whatever happened."

Maria's face showed her confusion of emotions. She struggled to object, "I don't want to be a burden-" "Oh that's nonsense." Helen assured. "hospitality is so underappreciated these days. Really I don't mind." Any protests Maria had were cut off.

Helen smirked to herself. _Shame. Kindness. Reassurance._ She won't be going anywhere for a while. Maria's face was hidden by her long curtain of hair. Speaking in such a low tone that Helen barely caught she said: "I didn't catch your name."

_Acceptance._ "My name is Helen Murdoch, you can call me Hel." The girl raised her head and quirked an eyebrow, "Hell?"

"Hel, H-E-L, short for Helen?" Maria merely blushed and nodded. Helen shrugged, "you could call me Hell too if you want."

"Okay, thanks…Hell." Maria snickered slightly.

Helen smirked through half-lowered lids. "Oh anytime, honey."

-----------------------

"Hallelujah, HALLELUJAH!" _click_ "Why I'm no fanatic, I am a FAN of GOD!-" _click _"-And the swine flu is expected to stay isolated in the Three Falls county region" _click_ "-The devil himself, tempting you with the sins of the flesh-" Maria clicked it off, shuddering in disgust.

Helen only had maybe twelve channels, all local. Nearly all of them televangelists or local farm and livestock reports. _Where am I?_ Maria thought in mocking disbelief. Helen said to make herself at home, but TV at home was a hell of a lot different than here. Not even a semi-decent nature program. Maria got up and returned the remote to the dusty set.

She pondered over what Helen had said. Maria honestly couldn't remember how she got here. That part of her mind was just blank. It was truly frightening, having a chunk of your life missing like that.

She did remember trying to run. Did she get away? She didn't think so. Her time in the church was a just one long painful blur. She remembered fighting that horrible monster, did she really get away? _I must have_, Maria thought, _why else would I be here?_ Unless the monster just let her go. The girl didn't know why he would do that, although she didn't know why he had taken her in the first place, and do what he did to her.

_Don't think about that, don't think about it_. She quickly instructed herself. She still felt violated and sore and a host of other things she didn't want to think about. She suppressed her tears again, _it didn't happen_, the woman told herself. If she forgot what happened it would be like it never happened. She could just get on with her life.

_If I ever get out of here_. Maria thought, getting up from the couch and walking around the house. Hel was nice, but she felt that she really should leave. She had been taught to go straight to the hospital in case-she shook her head again. _What am I going to do file a police report? They'll think I'm crazy, Hel too._ She decided to come up with a lie, she needed her car back. She was carjacked, that was it. Then hopefully they could find it and she could go to school. If she ever got to a phone.

Helen was working in her garden; Maria opened the creaky back door.

"Oh wow." She said in amazement at the backyard. It was huge, graceful trees stood silently over the property, as If guarding it. The whole yard was wild, overgrown. It looked almost magical.

"Wow" the girl repeated stepping off the back porch. Helen's garden was in a small sunny corner, a diminutive, grudgingly given spot to order and domestication. The woman was leaning over awkwardly and decapitating weeds with a hoe.

Maria noticed, for the second time, the odd device on her leg. It seemed to be really inhibiting her movement. Helen saw her and smiled.

"Caught ya looking." She taunted, waggling her finger. Maria blushed and tried to gush another apology. Not in the mood for it, Helen cut her off, "I don't mind, if it wasn't meant to be looked at they wouldn't have made it so damn freaky looking." Both women laughed.

"What happened, uh, if you don't mind me asking. " Maria added hastily. Helen straightened and sighed, "Ohh nothing unusual, just getting old. " She shrugged and stabbed the ground moodily "my crappy body crapped out on me." Maria winced in sympathy.

Helen saw it and felt her good humor evaporate, she decided to amuse herself. "But," she announced, "that can be remedied with our good friend vicodin!" she pulled out a bottle and a flask and chugged what looked like a mouthful. She smiled when Maria's eyes widened in horror.

"I don't think-" Maria began but Helen had already gulped them down. She caught a whiff of scotch. _Ooookay,_ Maria thought, Helen grinned. _She's eccentric, if anything._

"So why did you come out here?" asked Helen changing the subject, "nothing good on TV?" Maria laughed at the understatement. "Refried Jesus wheezers and _fascinating_ reports on pig farming just don't just entertain me all that much. Maybe something's wrong with me." Helen had to laugh long and hard at that one. "I don't watch TV that much anyway, that shit rots your brain." Helen advised.

Maria turned to the yard again. "I love this, it's so big!" Her eyes were filled with genuine wonder. "I've always wanted something like this." Helen winked, "Well you won't get anything like this in the beehive cities, you gotta come out to the country. You should stay."

Maria felt a slight disquiet at the statement. But something was beginning to blossom in her, caused by the laughter. She realized she that it didn't matter if she was stuck here for a while longer, she was free! No more church or monster or evil_, evil_ things that burned themselves into her memory. The wind blew cool in her face and the sun was just starting to set, casting gold light everywhere. She laughed, delighted at the sound.

"What's gotten into you?" Helen asked, amused and bemused by her behavior. "It's like a forest!" Maria practically sang out. She was free. _Free. _She would never take it for granted again.

"You're going to hurt yourself," Helen said nodding to Maria's bare feet. "I'm used to it," she assured. There had been no shoes in her bag; she wriggled her toes in the soft, fertile soil happily.

Helen watched as Maria entertainingly ran around the yard. She was exactly like a little kid, like poor Mena was when she finally got out of the cookie-cutter suburbs while Helen baby-sat her.

_How darling she is! _Her long hair bounced on her back like a mane. _Now I understand what he meant by 'wild' she's like a mustang._ Helen realized that Maria may not totally have been a willing participant with the monster. Maria defied the order to come inside and continued to enjoy the yard.

Helen boiled a few vegetables from the garden and prepared some of the meat Mena gave to her, smiling faintly. When it was dark Maria came back in. Helen noticed how wide her eyes were. She quickly wiped her feet off and bolted the back door shut.

"It doesn't need to be locked," said Helen exasperated. She opened the door, "let some cool air in!" Maria sat staring at the yawning blackness outside; a slight tremor went through her hands.

_She's afraid,_ Helen realized. _She thinks the monster will come and get her._ Helen smirked and set down a plate, "my supply is running low, I grilled you some chicken instead." Maria nodded silently and stared moodily at the table, picking at the plate. Helen suspected she could have put a live human in front of her and she wouldn't notice. It might be excessively cruel to trick her into feeding on one of her own now, but she will be an eater. It was probably good for the "child".

Ahhh the "child", how wonderful, how lucky. Helen didn't know all the rules governing this blue moon but she would find out, and made sure it would survive. Helen would be like, well not a mother as she wasn't maternal; she would be its aunty. Helping to raise the next generation of population control.

Maria looked up over across the table. She had stopped wandering in thought, "Your meat's undercooked." She observed. Indeed it was, bloody juice oozed from it as Helen bit down. Maria flinched slightly. It had an odd sweet smell, not unlike pork, Maria wondered.

Helen gave her a bloody grin with her unusually large canines. "I like it rare."

---------------------

A/N: Ehh, not much gore here either my loyal reviewer. Maybe next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

PART 5

"Oh God." Maria moaned as she felt the vomit rush up a second time. Gagging, she leaned over the toilet and heaved, flushing so Helen wouldn't hear._Like a freaking bulimic_, she thought to herself. Of course she wasn't bulimic, just nauseous.

She finished vomiting and wiped her mouth clean, flushing for a third time. Carefully making sure no trace of the vomit was left anywhere she went over to the mirror. Her hair looked slightly frazzled, but at that length it was always hard to control anyway. She smoothed it as best she could. Then walked out of the bathroom.

And straight into Helen.

"Something wrong?" she asked sweetly with just a hint of sarcasm to show the sweetness ironic. She was grinning her big grin.

"Everything's fine." Maria lied blandly. Helen raised an eyebrow.

"Really didn't sound fine." Helen countered. Maria matched her expression.

"Now I know you don't listen to your guests in the bathroom." Maria dodged smoothly. Helen had nothing to say to that. Maria walked over to the kitchen, feeling uneasiness.

"What's for breakfast?" she asked while casually peeking in the fridge. She didn't want to press the matter. Helen walked in limping slightly. "I didn't really prepare anything for you," she admitted. "Why don't you help yourself," she paused, "I see you already have."

Maria pulled the milk out of the fridge, swinging her long hair back as she did so. She considered what to say next.

"I think I'll just have some oatmeal." She said simply, _easier to keep down._ She began preparing it. Helen said nothing. Maria steeled herself. She had no idea why it felt like a chore, a trial. She was just going to tell her she had to leave today, but the uneasiness in her stomach returned.

Maria stirred the oatmeal listlessly. Maybe that's why she was throwing up. She did it in the church because in fear and horror and disgust. But now it was still going on. She hoped, prayed she wasn't getting sick. That meant staying here longer. She just wanted to leave.

The girl set her bowl down on Helen's table. Helen observed her with her piercing stare. Maria wondered how she did it, that look. She stirred the oatmeal again restlessly. Helen smirked.

"You are not hungry," she observed shrewdly, "something is on your mind." Maria pushed the bowl away and looked at Helen.

"I need to leave today, if possible," Maria said slowly. Helen showed no expression. The younger woman looked down at the table, "I really need to get to school-" Helen made a rude, disbelieving sound. Maria's jerked up, "What?" she demanded annoyed.

Helen exploded in disbelief, "You've just gone through some wrenching trauma and the first thought you have is 'I need to go to school'!? You were probably one of those weird kids with perfect attendance who never tried the thermometer-under-the-lamp trick, or the good old fashioned bomb threat."

Maria gaped in shock and felt her brain try to sputter into some sense of normalcy. Well, Helen wasn't exactly normal, that cane alone made her stand out. It was an ugly thing, Maria thought, she hated looking at it.

She shook her head, "Look, I-I just need to-" "Rest." Helen finished gently for her. "You need to rest." Maria shook her head, "no, no I need to get out of here." Suddenly she was flooded with fear. She needed to leave. Now.

Helen snapped at her: "You're puking your guts out and having nightmares. I don't think you're in any condition to travel!" Maria felt her anxiety grow worse and snapped back: "I thought you didn't like to pry!" she demanded. "Hey," Helen raised her palms in a non threatening gesture, "I can understand not prying, but it's not like these walls are soundproof. Hearing loud violent noises in my own home isn't what I would call prying." Maria relaxed a fraction.

"You can go later," Helen soothed. "I'm sure they'll understand."

Maria shook her head again. "I was carjacked." She explained, "On route 9" she nodded her head toward the road. "I think it's best if I get to a phone, now." Helen laughed softly, "Well as you know I don't have one."

"I know _that_." Maria felt herself getting more and more irritated. "You _do _have a car."

Helen gave an inward smile. "Well like I said, it doesn't work too well." She allowed a bit of the smile to seep through. "I'm sure you don't want to be stuck out there…on that desolate highway…no one to turn to for help." The older woman worked her deepest fear ruthlessly. She could see the horror on Maria's face.

After a bit of consideration Maria ventured out, "Well you must trust it somewhat if you still have it." Helen shook her head. "It's more I keep it out of fondness than anything, although I do take it for groceries maybe once a month or so." She couldn't believe that cheap car salesman gimmick was working. _The old woman who only took it once a month to buy groceries, ha!_

_Maybe a little too well_, Maria's face immediately brightened as she immediately seized on the idea. "You can do that! You can take me that far, I swear I'll pay for the gas when I get my money back, It'll just-" Helen shook her head again.

"Didn't you hear me?" Helen asked slowly. "You're sick; I'm not going to endanger your health by-"

"I'm FINE!" Maria practically screamed in frustration. "I just _need_ to get outta here, ok?" She moved towards the door.

_Damn, she's determined,_ Helen thought. She got up and physically blocked her way. People like her avoided physical confrontations at all cost. "Please move." Maria said curtly, but Helen could see the fear in her eyes. She didn't want to fight.

"Where are you going?" she asked reasonably. Maria answered, "Just point me in the right direction, I can walk it." Helen laughed, "it's more than a couple miles, honey."

"I can do it!" the girl insisted. Helen laughed harder, "in no shoes?"

"My feet are tough." She said bluntly and Helen fairly exploded in laughter. "You can fry an egg on that road, mean-as-hell rattlesnakes." She lied wildly, knowing something would stick. She could see the young woman wince in belief at every list of danger, but she continued onward anyway. "I have to get out of here," Helen could hear the horror and determination in her voice.

_What did he do to her?_ She wondered. _Well, besides knock her up. _"Wait!" she cried. Maria paused a second. "You're going to get sun sickness," Helen warned. "Just stay a few days, rest-" Maria shook her head. She didn't know why but she knew she had to leave, any hope and feeling of freedom from yesterday was gone. _Go now_, her restless mind was telling her, and staying in the house of a stranger just seemed wrong. No matter how much Hel insisted she didn't mind.

"Honey, it's almost noon." Helen reasoned. "Why don't wait till it gets cooler at least, you can rest for your journey. The older woman started manipulate her sword-cane subconsciously. She could intimidate her, but the young woman could call her bluff. After all she couldn't just stab the pregnant girl, at least seriously.

"Oh, no, no." Maria said in horror, the idea of traveling that lonely road at dusk was way too much. She grabbed the door handle, determined to leave. Helen unfastened her cane. The door swung open…

"Hi! I don't believe we've met!" Came a fake bubbly voice.

_**Perfect**__ timing Mena,_ Helen thought, she quickly sheathed the sword before Maria could turn around. She saw Mena eyes flick knowingly to her at the sound, and then were infused with a false sense of liveliness as they settled on Maria again. The young woman backed slowly away from the door.

"Who… are you exactly?" Mena asked her eyes flicking cautiously back in forth between them. Helen answered before Maria could say anything. "She's my special guest." She answered proudly, giving Mena a knowing wink. Maria blushed at being addressed as such.

"Ah-Ahhhhh!" Mena said as her quick mind grasping almost instantly. She eyed Maria with a new intensity. Then she put on her fake bimbo grin (Helen thought she cracked a rib trying not to laugh) and grabbed her hand and shook it with exaggerated enthusiasm. Maria instantly drew back like she had touched a hot stove and wrapped her arms protectively around herself. Mena put on a ridiculous parody of deeply wounded hurt on her face. Helen saw Maria's face soften with regret slightly. The older woman barely held in a snort of laughter.

"Come in Menaead," Helen beckoned. The door slammed shut. For one moment Maria was caught in between them and, accidentally it seemed, shoved onto a chair.

"Brought ya somethin'" Mena said plopping a hunk of meat wrapped in butcher's paper onto the table. She grinned at her aunt. Maria was reminded suddenly of a young wolf brining back prey. She suppressed that thought.

"Ah-ohh you're too good to this old woman." Helen said in an aged tone dripping with obvious falseness. Then they both cackled gleefully. Maria didn't join in. She pushed her chair back, "Nice meeting you, I should be going."

Mena's eyes went wide and shot a look to Helen. She grabbed Maria. "Stay." She insisted, "have some lunch." Maria shook her head. "I'm not hungry," she nodded to the bowl of cold oatmeal.

Mena looked at the bowl, "That's because your eating horse food, silly. You need something nice and _heart_y." Helen caught the pun and quickly put her hand over her mouth to stifle the laugh. Mena eyed the meat, then her aunt and then jerked her head to the girl slightly in question. Helen shook her head mutely.

Maria caught the gesture, causing suspicion in her stomach. She settled down slightly. "Are you, like, her daughter or something?" She looked back and forth, between the two, noticing a resemblance. "Niece," they both answered at the same time. Maria nodded. _This is good, maybe she won't be so hard on me for going._ "Well," she stood up, "see ya." Mena jerked in surprise.

"Didn't I say you were staying for lunch?" Mena said suddenly, harshness in her voice. Helen saw Maria's nostrils flare in anger and alarm, like a horse that's heard the lonely howl of a wolf. Helen shot her a warning glance. Maria looked as angry and suspicious as ever. Helen tried to smooth things over, "We just want you to stay a little while longer." She turned to Mena, "This one wants to _walk_ to the nearest phone in the middle of the day down that road." She explained with a tone that clearly indicated what a silly girl she was. Mena looked at the neophyte up and down appraisingly. "You don't even have any shoes." She observed.

"Thanks Ms. Insight." said Maria getting more and more annoyed. This was eating up too much of her time. "Maybe someone could lend me some shoes." She tried to induce guilt, Helen looked at her coolly and guiltlessly back. "Maybe." She replied glibly.

Maria paced the kitchen in irritation again. Suddenly she stopped.

"How did you get here?"

Mena ignored the question for as long as possible. Helen gave her some iced tea and the girl toyed with the glass. The older woman began cutting and tenderizing the flesh. Maria felt her impatience rise. She repeated question in clearly annoyed tones. Mena shrugged: "I flew."

"You drove." Maria snapped, not taking any bull. "You have a car, one that works I presume." She shot a look at Helen. "You could drive me to a town."

"I could," Mena drawled, "but the question is: do I want to?" Maria felt like exploding, Mena cut her off. "Why would I want to make an hours long trip during the hottest part of the day when I'm very hungry and tired and I just want to relax and eat? _And_ when you have an unlimited access to my aunt's _famed_ hospitality?" Maria suppressed her anger, she was desperate: "After lunch then."_Please say yes_.

Mena shrugged. "Maybe."

Maria went white. "I'm leaving." She said abruptly. She grabbed her bag and made for the door. _Get out._ He mind was telling her.

"Stay here." Said Helen in a harsh commanding voice, far different form the soothing wheedling one she had employed. Maria felt a thrill of fear as she saw the older woman facing her with a bloody butcher knife, but her anger quickly outweighed that. "I'm leaving." She insisted stubbornly. "Stay." Helen commanded harshly again.

Feeling enraged and reckless, Maria leaned forward and hissed a dare: "Make me."

--------------

"This hair is so cumbersome." Mena sighed, exasperated. The two women pushed the long curtain of hair back continuously to get at the bloody, slightly throbbing wound. Helen probed it gently. "Jeez Mena, you really did a number on her."

"Yeah well, she asked for it." A sly grin came over her face, "maybe we can just cut all this hair off, make it easier on her ourselves."

Helen shook her head. "No, just hand me the antiseptic." Helen cleaned her up, the unconscious girl didn't stir. "Thanks." She said as her niece took the bloody paper towel away, "Oh and, I think I have an ice pack in the freezer, could you get me that?"

Helen quickly applied the gauze, and snatched a pillow from the couch and put it under the girl's cheek. Mena returned with the ice pack, and Helen applied it.

Maria moaned and shuddered slightly.

"Here," Helen gave her the pack. "If she starts waking grab her and call me and I'll come quick." Mena nodded as Helen rushed off.

When she returned Mena had merely placed the pack onto the swollen lump in the back of her head and laid her down back on the pillow. Helen swiftly grabbed Maria's arm and handcuffed her to the nearby radiator.

"So that's why you told me to bring her over here," Mena grinned, "is there any reason I should know why you have those handcuffs Aunt Hel?" Both women laughed. "Well it sure as hell has nothing to do with my sex life." The laughter was deafening, Maria did not wake.

"How 'bout that lunch?"

---------------------------------------

Everything felt buzzy, like she drank too much. She closed her eyes and shook her head to clear the bleariness. There was a sharp pain in her head, Horror mounting she gingerly reached back and felt a swollen lump, swathed in bandages. She tried to sit up. Her arm jerked away from her.

She was handcuffed.

Maria panicked. Her mind was screaming, _run, run run,_ she jerked and threw her weight back so much she thought her shoulder would dislocate. Still she remained cuffed. She clawed at herself, willing to try anything to get free. The metal cuffs banged against the radiator.

"Hey, hey, hey." Came a familiar voice. "You're gonna hurt yourself there. You need to relax." Maria looked up, shaking her head in anger or disbelief, Helen couldn't tell. She trembled, "Let me go!" Helen shook her head. "LET ME GO!" Maria screamed, losing it. Whether she was launching herself at Helen or just trying to escape the older woman didn't know, she did however step back a bit. Maria jammed her legs against the radiator and tried to force herself loose. Helen watched silently as Maria thrashed and panicked like a caught animal, until finally she collapsed in exhaustion.

Helen asked calmly, "Are you done now?"

Maria might have flown into another rage, if she wasn't so terrified and tired. She looked at Helen with tears starting to run down her face. "What are you going to with me?" she whimpered, dread clearly in her voice.

"I'm going to feed you a warm meal and make sure you have some place nice to sleep tonight, does that sound so bad?" Maria shook her head in disbelief. "Here," Helen said pushing a plate of something toward her, "you haven't eaten all day, eat this." The girl kicked it away automatically.

"Fine be that way." Helen sighed; her tone was as if speaking to a two-year old.

Maria her tears turn hot with rage. "I'm _chained_ to a _fucking radiator_,_how the hell am I supposed to __**be**__?!" _Helen leaned forward, "How about 'grateful'? I know a radiator is clichéd but we're feeding you, keeping you nice and safe-"

Maria raised her chained arm, "I'm locked up!" she screamed in protest. "How is this safe?!"

Helen shrugged, "You were the one who said 'make me.'"

Maria shook her head again, gazing at Helen in shock. "Why are you doing this to me?" her voice was hoarse from crying. "Why do you want to hurt me?"

"Ohh I see, you think we're just the mean, bad people you see in old grindhouse flicks that like to hurt people for fun. Well that's true, but not in your case." She didn't know what to quite make of that. Dreading the answer but needing to know Maria asked again: "Really, what are you going to do to me?"

Helen smiled involuntarily, a part of her wanted to give the same simplistic answer as before, but another part of her wanted to be actually honest. However she couldn't give all the information yet. The time wasn't right. Maria would freak-out.

"I don't want to hurt you, I kinda like you actually, however you staying with us was a somewhat unexpected event." Helen paused then elaborated slightly, "We're just keeping you safe."

Maria rubbed the back of her head gingerly, "Safe from _what_ exactly?"

Helen leaned forward, "Safe _for_ what is what you should be asking."

Maria stopped rubbing her head. Only the vaguest deepest worry of her heart suspected the truth, but she dismissed it as too unlikely. She looked up in horror and Helen. "Please," she began begging immediately, "you can't do to this to me, I-," she hesitated, "something very bad happened to me and I don't know how I got here but, " she started crying, "it can't happen to me again and I won't let it happen again so please don't give me to someone evil." She paused again, thinking frantically of a way to get out of this horrid situation and added: "Really I'm not that pretty."

Helen burst into laughter, realizing finally at what she was getting at. She was dancing around the subject either out of modesty or fear or embarrassment. Helen wondered why exactly, and then dismissed such wondering as she addressed Maria, now utterly frantic again.

She finished her laughter, "Stop worrying! I'm not going to sell you into white slavery or anything…" As soon as those words came out a disquieting, but somehow sarcastic thought came right after, _well…_

Maria was tugging on the handcuffs, her eyes determinedly down. She responded by murmuring something so low Helen almost missed it. She fiddled with her bonds in quiet despondently; "I'm only half-white," she said softly.

For a moment Helen didn't understand, then realized, and was almost screaming with laughter. Mena actually poked her head in to see what all the commotion was about. Maria already insane with fear looked up at her quickly. Like most people she didn't enjoy being laughed at, so embarrassment and anger were added to her terror and worry.

She wondered not for the first time if Helen was mentally ill.

Helen again recovered from her laughing fit. She was so amazingly amusing! Either she was being boldly mocking, whistling in the dark, or hopelessly naïve. Helen guessed it was the last of the three. Poor sweet inexperienced little thing

Maria was staring at her with big tear filled eyes. "You are just so precious! We are_never_ letting you go." The older woman smiled and patted her head demeaningly. Maria squirmed away and snarled.

On that odd note Helen left.

Maria curled up in shock against the radiator.

-----------------------

_Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields,  
Sold in a market down in New Or-leans.  
Scarred old slaver know he's doin alright.  
Hear him whip the women just around midnight.  
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good  
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should_

Maria jerked in surprise.

_Did I actually zone out?_ She thought, panicking again, _I have to start thinking about getting outta here! _ She tried tugging on the cuffs, again nothing budged. She noticed that it was dark. The girl wondered how long she was out.

_Drums beating, cold English blood runs hot,  
Lady of the house wondrin' where its gonna stop.  
House boy knows that he's doin' alright.  
You should a heard him just around midnight.  
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good?_

Maria thought she heard music. That's what woke her up. Lifting her head she saw Mena dancing unabashedly in front of radio. Mena caught sight of her looking and gave her savage grin. "Rolling Stones, classic song." Maria recognized it: _Brown Sugar_. She sank back behind the radiator and tried fiddling with her bonds in a sort of quiet desperation. Mena trotted over to her.

_**Nooow**__ I bet your mama was a tent show queen,_

_and all her boyfriends were sweet sixteen.  
I'm no schoolboy but I know what I like,  
You should have heard me just around midnight._

"Aunt Hel said I had to be nice to you," Mena said in a sort of mock-childish sing-song voice. She sounded like one sibling gloating over the misfortune of another. "You must have a terrible headache, so I got you these." She held up a bottle of aspirin and a bottle of water. "Hey did you know 'Evian' spelled backwards is 'naïve'?" Maria could hear the sneer in her voice.

"Go. Away." She snarled

Mena blinked. "You_ are_ ungrateful."

Maria began struggling against the handcuffs again. "Go away or let me go," she panted as she struggled. "That's all I want."

"Be like that," Mena huffed, but did not leave; she sat down watching Maria with a cold amusement. The obscenely suggestive song wound down.

"_I said yeah, yeah, yeah, whoo!_

_How come ya, how come ya taste so good?_

_Yeah yeah yeah whoo!"_

"You're not going to get out." Mena observed mildly. "Until it's time at least." Maria increased her desperate struggles, and shot a hateful glare at Mena. "I told you to _go away_." She snapped, the realized, "what time?!" she demanded. Instantly sensing her advantage to torment the newcomer further Mena jumped up and sang "Oh no, I have to go away!" Eyes blazing, Maria was on the verge of snarling out some hideous insult before Helen walked cheerfully into the room with a small key. "It's time!" she cried. Both girls stared.

"Time for what?" Maria demanded, fear clearly visible. Helen smiled her big, off-putting, now deeply disturbing grin. "You'll see, Precious." She laughed obscenely. Maria cringed away.

"Oh what was all that screaming and thrashing for then?" Helen demanded, "I thought you wanted to be let loose." She dangled the key in front of her. "Don't you?"

"Why?" Maria demanded, while pushing herself into the wall.

Helen sighed and gathered her thoughts, then said, "Let's just say I know you're not going to run away"-_the hell I'm not_ Maria thought-"I know what your thinking, and you're not. Wanna know why?" Helen leaned forward to unlock the cuffs, grinned then answered, "Somehow, I don't believe you'll go running outside screaming like a fool with that odd looking man in the duster and Stetson hat lurking around."

Both women saw Maria's face freeze, white as a sheet. They could have knocked her over with a breath.

--------------------

"Is she still at it?" Mena asked. "Mmmm-hmmm," Helen replied, bored.

Maria was rushing around the house in an absolute panic, but like Helen predicted she didn't dare run outside. In fact she was barricading the house. Helen tolerated the impromptu furniture arranging, _she'll tire herself out._

"What're you doing?!" she shrieked at the two women idly sitting about. "Did you not hear what I told you?! We have to find a way of keeping him out!"

Helen stuck a finger in one ear, "Just 'cause I'm old doesn't mean I'm deaf, Precious. We heard you the first time." Helen went back to her book. Maria hissed, "YOU kept me here now we're ALL in terrible danger. If you're not gonna help you can just leave."

Mena and Helen turned to each other and smirked. "Well if you insist…"

"NO!" Maria screamed, "I didn't mean it, honestly its _suicide_!" Mena's smirk grew broader, "sounds like you're just scared." She taunted. Maria paused, then decided not to lie, "Yes I'm very scared," she whispered, "but I have a good reason to be." She glared at them, "are you gonna help or not?"

Helen and Mena said nothing.

"Fine." Maria spat.

------------------------

_Take a little walk to the edge of town  
Go across the tracks  
Where the viaduct looms,  
like a bird of doom  
As it shifts and cracks  
Where secrets lie in the border fires,  
in the humming wires  
Hey man, you know  
you're never coming back  
Past the square, past the bridge,  
past the mills, past the stacks  
On a gathering storm comes  
a tall handsome man  
In a dusty black coat with  
a red right hand_

Maria sat in the kitchen, dry sobbing and trying to listen to any strange noises but Mena started playing that damn radio, again, at least it was on low. The song echoed throughout the dimly lit house. She wanted to keep a low profile, but she wasn't going to risk losing her ability to see.

Her hands clutched one of Helen's kitchen blades, the big butcher knife. Her hands looked absurdly small and weak wrapped around the handle, but she felt much better with it then with out it.

_He'll wrap you in his arms,  
tell you that you've been a good boy  
He'll rekindle all the dreams  
it took you a lifetime to destroy  
He'll reach deep into the hole,  
heal your shrinking soul  
Hey buddy, you know you're  
never ever coming back  
He's a god, he's a man,  
he's a ghost, he's a guru  
They're whispering his name  
through this disappearing land  
But hidden in his coat  
is a red right hand_

"Could you turn it down please?!" Maria yelled as loud as she dared. The music did not waver in its volume. Maria sighed and tried to control her crying, she felt like she would hyperventilate, she pulled in air raggedly in through her lungs. She needed to stay alert, but she needed to sit down. The girl sat down at the table dizzily, and thought of those strange people.

Maybe they were crazy, that seemed likely. Maybe they were lying, her anger flared like an ember over that, but no, she trembled slightly, Hel's description was far too accurate. Yet they were not afraid. Maybe they didn't know how dangerous he was; maybe they were too crazy to care.

_Or maybe there's something else going on. _She thought.

_You'll see him in your nightmares,  
you'll see him in your dreams  
He'll appear out of nowhere but  
he ain't what he seems  
You'll see him in your head,  
on the TV screen  
And hey buddy, I'm warning  
you to turn it off  
He's a ghost, he's a god,  
he's a man, he's a guru  
You're one microscopic cog  
in his catastrophic plan  
Designed and directed by  
his red right hand_

Maria clutched the knife tighter.

----------------

Neither woman responded to her yell to turn the music down, neither woman was in the house.

Helen and Mena waited patiently on the porch; Mena had a jacket on against the slight chill. Helen toyed with her cane slightly. The music played onwards and finally Mena spoke: "What a cow." She sneered.

Helen didn't look up from her cane. "She's not that bad. I thought she was kind of sweet, until she freaked out on us that is."

Mena just sneered again. "I shouldn't say cow, I should say brood-mare." Helen laughed slightly. Seeing she didn't much of a rise out of her aunt Mena switched over to a more serious topic. "So," she asked, and then hesitated, "so _why _is she pregnant exactly?"

Helen looked up from her cane, "They haven't told you where babies come from yet Mena? Well when a woman and a monster love each other very much-hahahaaahah I don't know, he just called her a 'breeder'" Mena laughed at that, "Really?" she asked incredulously, when Helen nodded she laughed again, "Oh man," she paused again. "Does she know yet?" Helen shook her head with a grim smile, "oh MAN, is she ever gonna lose it, and I thought she was bad before." A malicious smile came across her face, "Can I tell her?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Menaed." Helen said.. "Besides it's the father's responsibility." She winked.

Mena exploded with questions: "What will it look like? Is it like a human-whatever he is hybrid? Can it be male or female? Oh God do you think it will be_ cute_? Can it kill as soon as it's born? Will it-?" Helen held up her hands. "I don't know, I don't know. From what I understand this is a fairly rare occurrence. And from the lack of baby monsters I _don't_ see running around Maria Adamses must not come around often." Helen realized she had to convey something important. From what she understood: If the baby died the monster slept, and that baby's life support system was the girl. Nothing could be done to kill her, or cause her to miscarry. Her beast depended on it.

Still, how to convey this delicately to her niece?

"If you hurt that girl Mena, I'll kick your ass." Helen warned, "I'm serious, our friend doesn't want his new toy broken. And If I don't kick it HE will."

Mena's grin faded slightly. "Oh I wouldn't hurt her. Much." Then laughed, "Seriously I know he wants this baby." "Needs. " Helen corrected. "He needs this baby. And I need him to be awake." Mena could see a rare sort of zeal in her aunt's eyes. She didn't know what to make of it.

Before she could say anything however a familiar honk greeted them. Both women jumped and turned around. "Hey!" Helen said, delighted. The monster grabbed her brutally, for one heart stopping moment Mena thought he would kill her aunt, then they pressed there faces together almost tenderly.

The monster looked up, "where?" he asked. Helen jerked her head toward the house, "She's in my house. In the kitchen, the place where we eat," the monster grinned at that. She pressed herself closer to him, "It was hard work keeping your pet from running away." Mena chimed in, "Yeah don't we get a reward?"

"Later." The monster promised as he examined Mena, lecherously, he looked toward the house and started to swagger confidently to it, "Wait!" Helen said, "One more thing, she kinda knows your coming, she'll be waiting for you so-" the woman bent toward her lover's ear and whispered. Mena could see the monster's grin stretch all the way across his ugly face. He guffawed and went around to the back of the house. "See you in a bit then." Helen waved cheerfully to him.

"What was that all about?" Mena demanded as her aunt returned to her. She grinned herself as she searched for the right words: "Leeeeeet's just say, I put the stud in with the brood-mare."

------------------------------

They annoying music had finally stopped. The silence was deafening. For a moment she wished it was back on.

She had finally gotten control of her crying, but it was still hard to keep herself in control. She didn't hear the voices of Helen and her niece, she tried to calm herself. Maybe they were lying, maybe he's not here, maybe he'll never come again. Maybe she should run for it.

All the entrances were blocked. If he broke in she would know. She wondered how strong he really was. _Strong enough to hurt me. _If he came she would run for it.

The "Breeder" didn't notice the basement door slowly and quietly open.

Luckily for him her back was turned. He could smell fear. What fun this would be! He tried to be quiet as possible. Unfortunately for him what he did put her in a constant hyper vigilant state, whatever small mistake he made-a too heavy boot step, the squeak the basement door- she heard. Maria spun around.

"Damn." Mena said softly in surprise. The two women could hear hysterical screaming, loud bangs and crashes. Helen could see in her minds eye all her crockery and dishes being smashed. She didn't care much for possessions anyway, but both her and her niece were somewhat unsure of how to feel. It was funny of course, yet both felt somewhat anxious also. Too anxious to laugh. They could hear the monster yell, in pain.

When she heard an unusual sound she spun around quick as a cat, she could see for a moment a look of surprise on the monster's face. Naturally she screamed and before she could decide to run or fight he was on her. Trying to push her up against the table.

"_**NO!**_" She screamed and caught him with the knife. A shocking amount of blue black blood came pouring out. _So much blood_, she thought dizzily, the monster redoubled his efforts. She struck savagely again and again. For one brief moment in the haze of absolute terror she sensed a weakness. Pushing with almost inhuman effort she actually managed to break free! She bolted. He was on her in a second again.

At least she was no longer pinned between him and the table. In a macabre dance the two struggled violently around the kitchen. The force of his grab sent her careening into Helen's recently washed dishes scattering and smashing them all over the floor. When she got a good swing, down across his face and directly over his eye, he howled and jumped back, while keeping his grip on her arm. As a result he crashed back into the pots and pans and sent them flying, tugging Maria helplessly along in his wake.

He was struggling to hold onto his wild thing, while she screamed and twisted and did every thing to get away. However when he did try to bring her closer she struck him repeatedly. He was getting frustrated. He grabbed her knife arm. Her hand twisted impossibly, he thought he heard her wrist crack, and she moved to stab the arm that held her. It hurt, but he held on doggedly, finally managing to grab the knife, she sliced his palm, and he flung it away. It embedded itself in Helen's wall.

They both fell on the floor, he paused but she _still_ continued to struggle. She screamed like a dying person and clawed at his skin. The only words he could understand were _no, no, no_. He pressed his weight on her.

He could, right now, take her again. He gazed at the struggling woman as she screamed and spat at him. He felt his flare ascend, his hat fell off, and hideous bright colors blossomed slowly and menacingly at the girl. Already in hysteria she saw the flare suddenly popped open; it was the most horrifying thing she saw that night. He was screeching at her.

All her screams seemed to lodge in her throat. She choked and said nothing as she stopped struggling in fear and amazement. She gazed at him with her own soft terrified eyes. Tears were streaming down; gently he licked them off once more.

He could, but he wouldn't, he was hungry, and hurt, and he might hurt her. He grabbed her and his hat up from the ground. She didn't struggle. Maria felt her feet dangle uselessly off the ground. Her whole body was locked tightly in his arms; he dragged her to the kitchen door and casually kicked all her makeshift barricades away. She saw how foolish she was. In two swift kicks they were gone.

The monster dragged her outside. She saw Helen and her niece.

The two burst into laughter at the sight. The monster gave a very grudging smile. It hadn't gone exactly as he had planned. Maria was covered in blue-black blood and trembling in shock. The laughter sounded bizarre and unreal.

His flare was just starting to lower slightly as he calmed down. The Breeder offered no further trouble. Helen moved forward, and then drew back in surprise. "Holy-You're bleeding pretty bad." She held her hands up to the dim porch light and wiggled them slightly to see the blood glisten. The monster tuned his head and showed her the gash. Both women gasped. His eye looked ready to fall out.

At the same time, they all silently turned there gaze to Maria, who was hiding pathetically behind her hair again.

_Wow_, Mena thought silently. Helen turned to the monster. "Looks like someone needs a new eye!"

-------------------------------

"So where are we going?"

"Oh you'll see. Mena explained. "It's something we cooked up while you were baby- sitting." She jerked her head to Maria, who said nothing. "A fun new way to hunt. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride_."_ Mena paused, "are you riding with me or him?" Before Helen could answer she felt something sharp dug into her hand, startled he saw Maria grabbing her with strength she didn't guess she possessed. The girl's hair half covered her face and she choked out a hoarse rattling whisper. Helen barely caught the words. "Don't…leave me….alone with IT!"

The monster was keeping her on a very short leash. The second he sensed conflict he growled and stalked towards her. Maria whimpered and hid behind Helen. Helen held out her arm. "Its okay, Beastie she with me." He jerked his head toward the truck. Helen grabbed her and pulled her towards it.

She began backing away. "Please, please." she whimpered, the truck was looming and ominous and she was exhausted and terrified and just ready to utterly break down. The passenger side door was open and yawning with unknowable blackness. Maria bolted again.

Helen grabbed her, gripping the shocked girl in a ferocious grasp. She screamed and squirmed, Helen grimly held on. The monster easily jumped over the hood and joined in the struggle, she became less violent but more vocal. "Please, please, please, no. NO!" The woman and the monster dragged the struggling girl towards the truck. "Stop struggling," Helen grunted, Maria dug in her heals.

The monster clearly had enough, easily lifting the screaming girl he shoved her into the truck, Helen jumped in shortly and slammed the door. The monster quickly circled around and jumped in through the driver's seat.

There was total darkness. For a moment the only sound was Maria's sobbing. It sounded like she was trying to stifle them with her hand over her mouth. Then the monster started up the truck, blocking out any noise Maria made. Helen loved the sound, like a second beast roaring to life. The stars and partial moon cast a very dim eerie light on the whole scene. Helen could see Maria's pale face and the monster's grin. She grinned back.

She saw its eye was relatively undamaged by the fight Mara put up. It just sat precariously in the socket with the surrounding flesh cut away. It wobbled like jell-o in the light.

_Why didn't I run? Why did I panic?! Why do I have to sit here, bumping elbows with him? Oh God he's gonna hurt me again. He's gonna take me some place terrible and hurt me. They're gonna kill me. I'm going to die. They're going to take me in some cold dark place and kill me._

Maria was trying very hard not to scream or cry too loudly, but the cries just kept coming. She had put her hand over her mouth but it was like a river overflowing its banks. She wanted to make herself small and unnoticeable as possible, but she couldn't stop crying. She could feel the monster as he sat next to her, she could smell him, and_ oh God I can TASTE him_. Maria curled up against Helen.

"Hey," Helen snapped "don't think I'm a shoulder to cry on, get off." She tried to shove her away, towards the monster; Maria panicked and shoved back, trying desperately to get far away from him as possible. A violent tug of war ensued; the monster looked over and tried to break it up, driving one handedly and swerving all over the road. An angry honk from the right came as he nearly hit Mena.

"Cow." Mena muttered as she twiddled the wheel and got back on course.

Helen realized Maria wasn't about to calm down. Her fingers itched to slap the hysteria out of her but intuitively knew that would be counter-productive, so instead she grabbed her by the shoulders and forced Maria to face her. She shook her slightly.

"I promise not to hurt you, but you have to stop crying. You cry far too much. Don't cry!" Helen warned, cutting off a sob." Just calm down and we won't hurt you."

To her surprise Maria actually stopped crying, but she could still see the look of fear on her face. The girl refused to look at the monster and still curled up desperately against Helen. Helen didn't coddle her, but she tolerated it. Whatever kept her quiet.

The older woman was toyed with the idea that her screaming and fighting would cause a fatal car accident, but considering that she obeyed her order to be silent she decided not too. Now she regretted it, it would have been deliciously ironic.

Another honk came from the right. Helen could see her niece lean out of the window honking and waving. "We've gotta live one!" she yelled and sped forward. The monster was now hunched over the dash, sniffing the vents. Helen became eager, realizing what was happening. She straightened up and brushed Maria off. The neophyte simply looked confused and scared.

Helen could see the two lonely red eyes of a car ahead of them. Through her window to her right she saw Mena pull away from them, the monster pulled away from her. Like a pair of lions exquisitely plotting some poor prey's doom they worked in tandem. Helen marveled, as they both sped on opposite sides of the car almost the same distance apart and honked loudly and repeatedly in unison. Like they knew each other's thoughts exactly, or just the seemingly perfect result of endless planning and practice.

The car, already edgy, now visibly panicked and quickly sped up. However the souped up BEATNGU was far too fast and he tailed ruthlessly, ramming the car and causing it to spin wobblingly before the drive gained control and desperately tried to speed on. The moment was only slightly ruined by Maria jumping up and screaming beside her.

Now wounded Mena took over. _Marvelous_, Helen thought. One predator, infinitely older and wiser was teaching the younger to hunt properly. The monster pulled back and Mena sped ahead, as if he was saying: "All yours."

Mena sped forward with the brashness of youth and struck the prey fearlessly at a specific angle. _There's an art to a car chase_, thought Helen. The aim is not to destroy, merely to incapacitate. The hapless car now spun at an uncontrolled 360° all across the road. Seizing on a perfect split second the monster rammed it directly at its mid-section. It lurched drunkenly to the side, _almost _tipped over; then crashed back on it's for wheels with a great THUMP. Flawless.

Helen was impressed.

Mena jumped out, so did the monster, so did the driver. Seemingly alive she was terribly disoriented by the whole experience, weaving around like a drunk, wobbly, knowing only to run and run quickly. Helen could see a second body in the passenger seat, it wasn't moving. The woman was abandoning it.

However it was futile, she was far too disoriented and helpless. She saw her gaze in dull shock at Mena then the monster. A scream erupted as she turned around and ran-directly back into her ruined car. Helen suppressed a giggle._The god of technology won't save you_. She couldn't start it, couldn't even close the door before they were both on her, like wild animals.

Suddenly Helen was aware that the screams weren't just coming from the prey animal. Maria was shrieking hysterically beside her, watching in paralyzed horror as Mena's knives and the monster's claws did their work. Spatters of blood and pieces of flesh were tossed right into the windshield in the frenzy.

She was crying again and now jabbering something that sounded like a question. Feeling indulgent the older woman patted her arm reassuringly, but kept an eye on the pair in front of them. She saw the monster rip the left eye lids off the unconscious man and swallow them, blinking slightly. His unseeing eye gaped out blindly.

"Don't worry you'll get used to it. They may have bad manners but," she nudged her playfully, "how else is daddy supposed to bring home the bacon?" she asked to Maria's shocked, uncomprehending face.

As if to illustrate the point the girl and the monster held up carved pieces of the woman triumphantly.


	6. Chapter 6

PART 6

"You think we could take this one?"

"Maybe. If he lets us use his truck."

"Wow it's pretty nice, see how the sunlight bleached away all the stains?"

Helen nodded. "One more great thing about living in the country, there is no 'garbage' just slightly used stuff no one wants anymore."

"I like this," Mena gestured to a table. "Not as nice but salvageable."

"Sure, all it needs is to be buffed, varnished, a few cinderblocks, maybe a few carvings too."

"Hahahahaha, you think _he'll_ help out in that department?"

"Hahhahahehehe, I don't see why not. He takes pride in his work, even though it's time consuming. And now he has all the time in the world."

Mena gave a happy sigh. She stretched her lithe young body in the sun, "yeah, this is gonna be great." Helen couldn't help smiling in turn.

"You think we should get back?"

"Yeah, she might be missing us!"

---------------

It was hard to tell if she was awake or asleep. Everything was just a painful blur. She had a sweet dream about being free, or maybe a long nightmare about being captive. Whatever it was it was it wasn't clearly defined. There was no reality, only the puffy itchiness of her eyes, the stiffness in her neck and the swollen lump in the back of her head.

Initially she couldn't even tell if she was awake or asleep or even if her eyes were open or closed. They felt too swollen to shut. Maria then felt a horrible weariness, worse than anything she had ever experienced. Her skin felt like it was alive and crawling, her whole mind felt disconnected.

After a short while she managed to flex her hands.

A short while after that she was able to establish she was indeed awake, and lying on the ground.

Maria, slowly and agonizingly managed to right herself. She gazed at her surroundings for a few minutes without really seeing them. Her mind felt like it was trying to stand up, and failing miserably.

She looked around once more. She was in a dim gloomy place, none of it was familiar. She tried, but just couldn't make sense of anything. For the first time in a long time she just felt completely, utterly blank. After a while only one coherent thought formed: _I don't know what to do._

Maria blinked. The itchiness in her eyes grew worse. She closed them and it felt good, so despite the pain and terror Maria obeyed the wisdom of her body and fell asleep.

---------------

"Hey she's finally waking up." Maria blinked again, her eyes really hurt, she squeezed them shut.

"You sure? We thought she was awake before."

She felt eye crust, so she sat up and rubbed them vigorously. She heard the two women draw back and speak again; as though she weren't even there. "Well she slept with her eyes open half the night, I think she's up now. Yeah she's up."

It hurt to see, but luckily it was dark enough, she moaned slightly, (which caused some mean-sounding titters) and gazed at the two women.

For a moment she did not hate or fear them. Helen had a rather kind smile she had before. Her niece simply looked at her coldly and neutrally. Maria didn't feel alarmed or threatened in any way. She might have just woken up in Hel's guest room, waiting for the day to begin.

Where was she…?

She looked around, it looked empty, dark and old.

Her breathing began to hitch. Although there was no monster or corpses it reminded her indefinably of her last prison, his awful smell and presence imposed forcefully on this place.

Before she knew it she had jumped up to feet, the adrenaline waking her instantly, "Where…?" she asked but her throat was far to dry to make any sounds, so nothing emerged. Helen, a little taken aback by her sudden movement, recovered and saw the girl's lips move.

Helen grinned and spread her arms wide. "Probably not as high class as you are used to, but if I could feel comfortable here so can you." The steely undertone in her voice made Maria realize she had no choice but to. "So welcome to The Catacombs" she spread her arms out, a real-estate agent's grin plastered on her face.

Maria stood rigidly still. Her eyes looked around wildly, desperately seeking an exit. Helen she could take, maybe Mena-if she wasn't packing, which she strongly suspected she was, but she would fight, she couldn't be here.

Helen was going on the verge of telling her not to bother, and Maria was on the verge of bolting, when the Creeper marched matter-of-factly in. Thus ending all effective fights.

Maria let out an uncontrolled whimper and sank to the floor, hair covering her face, refusing to move. The creature glanced at the group of women passingly. Mena let out a cruel laugh at the same moment Helen exclaimed: "Hey! Thanks for bringing it in." Mena looked back to see the monster dragging in a something large behind him and, sparing a glance at Maria, went to them. The two women admired the prize that they had found earlier thanking their lover for bringing it in. It was a thing of beauty, only slightly chipped, snowy white due to exposure from the sun, and representing a luxury even they liked to indulge in. It was a bathtub.

Maria glanced up. A monster that had raped her had dragged in a bathtub, while two evil women admired it.

_I'm going insane_. It was a neat logical thought. Almost comforting in it's reasonability. But reason kicked her in the teeth again; insane people don't have reasonable thoughts. So this was real, everything was real_, nooooooo it's not real,_ she felt another surge of panic, fought it and controlled it. Her mind teetered on the edge of disbelief. After an agonizing eternity she decided it wasn't best to simply crouch there, huddled up and cringing. She began to slowly crawl away. Too little too late.

All three stopped looking and talking about the tub when the Creeper looked up and smiled at Maria. She immediately froze and hid behind her hair again.

He came to her, his eyes and teeth shining as he squatted down to sniff her. She responded by freezing, looking down at the ground and trying hard not to cry out loud.

She knew from experience there was a good chance he would just leave her alone. Sometimes he came to her, but all he wanted to do was to smell her. Why he did this she had no idea, but as long as he didn't bother, he didn't touch her…

He tried to remove some of the hair from her face and felt like melting into the floor in her misery. Finally, reluctantly he got up. He had to go get something else. As he walked out he indicated with his eyes that she needed to be watched. Helen nodded slightly, the monster locked the door behind him.

With him the tension seemed to have eased out of the room somewhat, Helen and Mena began discussing innocuously about where to put the bathtub. Maria remained motionless for a few more minutes, then if finally deciding the monster was gone for now she leapt up and ran toward the door.

She knew it was locked, she knew, but she yanked and hit it and screamed worthlessly anyway. Finally she slumped to the floor, whimpering. Helen and Mena fell silent at the spectacle, Mena was smirking slightly.

Maria turned to the two women. "Let me out." She demanded. They both did nothing.

"Let me out!" she screamed desperately. "Please!"

Helen smirked, now why would you want to go out? Going for a walk." Maria shook her head. "Just let me out," she choked, "give me a head start while he's gone. Please, that's all I ask."

Helen put on a show of deliberating the plea. Finally she shrugged and said. "Alright I'll open the door."

Maria scarcely had time to rejoice before Helen's voice rang out, "But!-" she added, Maria paused, listening desperately, "but," she continued, "I have one condition to ask."

"Anything," Maria agreed rashly, waiting for the condition Helen would set.

Helen had one of her big grins on. "I'll open the door and you can go wherever you want, in return I just want you're feet." Maria blinked, sure she misunderstood. "My _what?!_"

Helen's grin seemed to get even wider. "Oh it's just a trifle little thing I want, what's that compared to you getting out that door? You seem so eager to." She gestured to Maria's feet which were still bare and sticking out of the bottom of her jeans. "One little chop is all it'll take."

Maria stared in disbelief, surely this was just some sick joke. Unconsciously she reached back toward the door. "You're just joking, right?"

Helen reached down and pulled her friend's big, blood encrusted battle-axe seemingly out of nowhere.

"No!" Maria screamed in horror, the other women noticed her toes had curled up in fear. She backed up against the wall. "What the hell do you want with my feet anyway?!"

Helen and Mena were doubled over in laughter.

Helen wiped a tear from her eye and brandished the axe again, "Not for eating, they're too little." Maria's face deepened in its expression in horror. "Just for pretty you know, maybe I'll hang them from my rear view mirror."

"Just let me out!' She started screaming above the women's malicious laughter and shaking the door again.

"You know the price then." Helen. "_NO!_" Maria screamed in response and Helen shrugged and tossed the axe away. "Then I guess I won't let you out then."

The next second all their arguing was made totally irrelevant, the monster came back in, dragging a heavy beat up table. He motioned for Mena to help him, which she did, picking up the other end. Maria retreated back and did not look at any of them.

-------------

The two women spent the next few hours sanding down some of the worse of the gouges and scrapes from the well worn table. Helen propped her leg up, it was beginning to irritate her again. Mena seemed restless and unhappy as she smoothed out the table. Helen observed this over her bottle.

"You need to get out young blood; you need to hunt, or something. You're getting restless, I can see it." She took another swig.

Mena laughed somewhat bitterly. But she agreed. "Yeah, "she said and gestured over to the skins now finished and neatly folded next to the old sewing machine. "Seems like I've been sewing for fucking forever."

Helen and her niece laughed. Mena seemed to relax. "You know since we have all the meat stored we haven't been out hunting lately, and what with you leg and all," she trailed off a little.

Helen's eyes glinted. "I'd hate to waste, but it's almost gone anyway, and what is left is getting a little ripe, maybe we should be looking for some fresh ones." She looked excited, like a much younger woman. Mena grinned and joked, "Naaah lets just stay here and sew some more, it's not "ripe", it's "flavored." Both women laughed again.

"Tomorrow" Helen promised and patted her leg. "I'm sure the old girl can take it. And I'd love to practice with my new cane." She fondled it happily. Mena grinned again

"I never got a chance to compliment you on your offer." Her eyes shone with malevolent glee. "The look on her face was priceless." Helen winked, "Now it's your turn." 

------------

Mena toyed with her. She was a good actress. Maria talked to her in a low conspiratorial tone when they were alone, begging for help and offering it, trying to convince her to fight back, to escape the demon.

Mena paused, mock thoughtful, "I don't really think he's a demon."

Maria sighed in exasperation, "Who cares what it is?! Let's just get out of here! Or we'll end up like that!" she pointed to a freshly stuffed corpse, its eyes bugging out in horror.

Mena gave her fake pout, "Your right. I don't want to end up like that." Maria looked slightly relieved, "I want me a much better pose then him." Maria drew away, shocked and disgusted. This girl was crazy or stupid or both, she was too busy in her own scorn to see the malicious smile Mena flashed to Helen.

Maria was beginning to lose hope again, she tried to gather herself, tried to explain this bizarre behavior, this whole bizarre situation. She wondered for the thousandth time if she was dead, if she was dreaming.

Helen, sharp eyed, saw the neophyte's eyes begin to glaze again, she hoped she wouldn't cry, it was getting annoying. The older woman heaved herself up and confronted Maria.

The girl jumped in surprise; Mena snickered meanly from her side. Her exaggerated motions looked ridiculous, but the hyper vigilance wasn't faked. She wrapped her arms around herself again. Helen frightened her.

Maria's gestures annoyed her even further. Helen wanted to straighten her back, pull the curtain of hair from her face, and shake some gumption into this pathetic girl. Her whole body begged for pity, hiding, curled up in itself. The message she broadcast through her body language was _please don't hurt me._

_She can fight, I've seen it, where is that rage? That defiance?_ Helen was determined to shake it out of her. Her fingers itched to do it. Maria consciously or unconsciously picked up on this. She withdrew with in herself even more and moved out of arms reach with a speed that reminded Helen of her limitation, but there were other ways.

"Listen to me girl, listen!" she snapped. "I know you think she's stupid, I can see it in your face. Don't deny it" she said over her objections, "but you're the one being stupid, your going to have adapt to this. Its evolution, adapt or die."

Maria merely shook her head again, as if trying to shake loose Helen's words. "How can you say that?" she whispered. She hoped to appeal to their sense of sympathy. "Didn't he take you too?"

Helen and Mena looked slightly puzzled, so Maria went on, "Didn't he kidnap you…force you?" she asked hesitantly. "He got you too."

Now it was Helen's turn to shake her head, smiling. "Oh honey, he got me along time ago."

Helen seemed to be reminiscing dreamily. "Well it was kinda rough, but I wouldn't call it rape, and it wasn't a kidnapping either." She laughed, "He fed me once and I followed him home."

It began to dawn on Maria, they was here willingly, not kidnap no rape, not even Stockholm's syndrome, _she genuine likes-no __**loves**__ him_. The horror was almost unbearable; she shot a glance at Mena, who answered her silent question with a malevolent grin. _These two..._

"Glad you caught on." Helen said smiling slightly. "Took you long enough." Mena added contemptuously.

Maria blinked back new tears and slowly tried to back away, these were not human. These ghouls were both leering at her.

Before anything else could be said He arrived. Maria wanted to break down in despair. Any hope was gone; she might as well be dead.

Helen saw this and got up, confronting her, "Stop sniveling damnit." She hissed, but the young girl could only gape in horror, her hands were over her mouth. Sensing that Maria would withdraw into herself once more, Helen smothered her anger and tried a different tactic.

"Look, don't worry; you're not going to be killed or anything." She assured. The demon hovered closer, sniffing intently. "You should be happy," she grinned, "we're going to have a party!"

----------

Maria watched as they pushed the heavy table into place. They settled it in the middle of what Maria guessed was unofficially the living room. Helen of course did not help lift, and no one asked Maria.

"Wh-whats going on?" she asked Helen. Totally confused, she felt certain something bad was going to happen.

"Just getting ready," Helen said cheerfully, bringing in the chairs one handedly. "I told you, we're celebrating!"

Maria watched as the monster moved this old furniture. It looked like a dining room set that someone threw out. It was weathered, gouged and scraped, one of its legs was half gone, Helen had propped it up with old cinderblocks. The chairs were all mismatched.

She felt that whatever these-people- were celebrating along with this demon, it wasn't going to be good. She tried to retreat quietly away again. The Creeper grabbed her.

"Ah-ah-ah" Helen said cheerfully waggling her finger. "Nobody likes a wallflower, especially at a party thrown in _her_ honor."

The neophyte blinked, her feeling of unease increased, along with a small weird sense of flattery. She asked why. Helen glanced at the Creeper and smiled silently but merely said "don't worry; I told ya, we're not gonna murder you." Mena chuckled and gestured to the silent monster, "Should we go rustle up some grub? Or do you want to go?"

Helen considered, and then said, "Nah. You need the fresh air, besides," she jerked her head towards Maria, "I can baby-sit."

Maria felt a cold hard fury entering her, her spine straightened and her eyes narrowed into slits, but she did not say anything. The conspiratorial nature about this "party" was infuriating but also horrendously scary. She edged away from the table.

Mena grabbed her long knife and her push blade and jogged happily to the monster's car. The Monster paused and sniffed Helen with affection, Maria made sure to keep the table between her and the Creeper. He smiled at her as he left. She heard the sound of a door being locked, of a car driving away.

Everything was very quiet.

Maria eyed the door again. She could try and break it open. Helen would not be able to stop her.

"Don't even think about it." The older woman growled. Maria shot her a look full of loathing but decided against it. The Creeper would just drag her back anyway; force her to participate in some demented little celebration.

Helen had sat down, resting her leg. She had a bottle of tequila that she was sipping contentedly, eyeing Maria coldly. Maria sat down also and rested her head in her hands. Her was mind buzzing numbly.

Something was so clearly wrong with them; they are sick, twisted, foul. Were the once normal? Would she become like them?

_No no, God no,_ she thought. She would never become like these horrible people, no matter how badly she was tortured. She gave another glance at Helen who smiled sardonically back. Maria got up and paced around.

She didn't like this table, it was ugly, it made her feel bad. It looked like the table with the chains on it. The one in what she called Xibalba. She shuddered, eyeing it in horror and edging away from it. Maybe that's what the "party" was about. Maybe he would strip her naked and chain her to this table, violating her in front of an audience. Her mind writhed in torment at the thought of it. _Why does he hate me?_

Helen watched the girl's facial expressions and tried to divine what she was thinking. She looked like she might cry again. Helen decided to cut that off, fast.

"I told you, we're not gonna eat you. Stop looking so stupidly worried." Maria suppressed the tears that had gathered from that humiliating image. She gritted her teeth, "You know maybe if the monster's _bitch_ didn't seek to placate the victim constantly I might believe she wasn't a lying asshole!" She said viciously. "What? Don't want me to fight back?!" she demanded.

Helen laughed, "Yeeeow! This kitten has claws!" She grinned. "And no, I love when they fight back, so much more amusing." She waggled her eyebrows obscenely.

Maria grimaced and continued to pace. She had to figure away out of this. She wondered what they were planning.

"Where did the Creeper and that girl go?" she asked Helen suddenly, hostility set aside temporarily.

Helen was taken aback, "The Creeper?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Maria sighed, "The Monster, the Demon, the Bat Thing from Hell, whatever it's called!"

Helen sipped the tequila thoughtfully, wondering where "Creeper" came from. He certainly didn't creep. She shrugged and responded: "I don't know exactly where, but I do know they're rustling up some grub." She paused, "I think Mena said they ordered a pizza boy."

Maria's anger evaporated, staring wide eyed. "Y-you, you're joking, right? Please say tell me you're joking."

Helen wanted to laugh, but kept her face dead serious. "Do we look like we're joking?" she gestured to the bones, skins, the stuffed corpse on the Creeper's desk. "This is no game, little innocent, like I said, this is evolution. People who breed themselves to be weak and worthless get eliminated. It's that simple"

Maria just continued to stare, Helen snapped in irritation, "and stop staring at me like a stupid cow."

The girl ignored the order. She had never seen pure evil before, _how can I not stare?_ She was insanely curious now as well.

"Are," she hesitated but plunged in, "are you like some cult or something?" Maybe they worshiped this demon, did its bidding. Helen finally burst into laughter.

The younger woman felt stupid but continued to ask, with a hint of sarcasm "Do you sacrifice virgins to him at the full moon?" She unconsciously wrapped her arms around herself. "Is that why I'm here?" she whispered to herself, afraid again.

A languid sneering voice came behind them. "Don't flatter yourself; we **know** you're not a virgin."

"You're back!" Helen cried, and got up from her chair. "That didn't take long." Maria had gone deathly completely silent. Her face was white. The other girl's barbed comment had punctured any self righteous anger.

_Oh God she's right how could I forget. I WAS a virgin, now it's gone. He tore me to shreds. _She wanted to sit down. She started having trouble breathing.

"Fuck, she's leaking again." Mocked Mena. Maria ignored her, feeling worse than ever, she felt impure. "Dinner has arrived," Helen commented at the sight of the Monster carrying a corpse. Push knife wounds covered it.

Helen's comment sunk in. They were planning to eat. From a _corpse._ She cried in disgust and backed away from them.

"Hey," Helen said. "You can't leave so soon!, you haven't even eaten yet." Maria turned on her. "**FUCK** you!" she cried, "You're sick! You're **evil!** I hate you. Get away from me you sick fucks. Go to Hell! Go to Xibalba! Just stay the fuck away from me!" she screamed.

_Xibalba?_ Thought Mena laughing. Helen went pale also.

"Get over here you little brat, _get __**over**__** here**_," she was hissing like an angry snake. "We're trying to be nice, but I guess there's no pleasing some people. Some _spoiled_ people." Maria just choked in anger. She could have easily outrun her, she couldn't outrun Mena, but she would fight, hard, and they could see that. Helen tried a different tactic.

Smiling dazzlingly and waving she addressed the air over Maria's shoulder. "Hello beastie!" she called. Immediately Maria spun around, fists up, ready to face the hideous monster that sneaked up behind her. She saw…nothing.

Helen, to Mena's surprise, tossed her cane at her niece, which she caught deftly. Then using her good leg threw herself at the terrified girl, tackling her. Mena was howling, "Ohhh so gullible!" she crowed. Helen, using her weight, pinned Maria to the ground.

"Gotcha, ya little civilized." She grinned viciously, holding the squirming girl. "Now **we're** gonna have a party, and **we're** gonna like it. **All** of us."

"Let me go!" she cried in shock. The older woman was much stronger than she looked.

Minutes later, with Mena's help, Maria was chained to the big chair, the "chair of honor", they called it. She didn't go quietly; she kicked and bit anyone who went near, screaming.

Mena, with her uncanny ability to root out perfect songs from the collection, had put on _"It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To."_ The annoying song drifted through the catacombs, making Helen choke on her tequila and making Maria's choke on her fury. She screamed and jerked the chair, never having been so angry in her life.

"Calm down, child, your gonna kill yourself." Said Helen mildly as Mena added another insult, she put a faded cardboard party hat on the captive's head. Maria didn't respond, merely struggled and bit Mena savagely when she had the chance. Mena said and did nothing to retaliate. She merely affixed the ridiculous hat, smiled and patted her head demeaningly when she was done.

Now sobbing loudly the Creeper presented the second body to Maria and the others, still alive.

"_**Oh My God**__!"_ Maria screamed. They were definitely not joking. She thrashed against the chair in desperation. The monsters began to savagely pull the soon to be corpse apart, the young man screamed in pain and terror, Maria screaming along empathetically. "That's for staring down my shirt," said Mena as she cut open his chest. After awhile he stopped screaming, Maria didn't.

"Can't you shut her up?" Mena demanded. The Creeper took the young man's heart and offered it to the captive, pushing it right into her face; she immediately shut her mouth tightly. She fell into another horrible catatonic state. The Creeper, grumbling, ate the heart himself.

Maria tried to convince herself it was a nightmare. It was so surreal, witches and monsters feeding off dead delivery boys. At a dinner party. Helen actually lit foul smelling dinner candles and chastised Mena for elbows on the table.

When the two finished laughing they saw Maria had fallen into another faint. She looked almost asleep. Her head fell very gently to the table.

"Won't eat." The Creeper said simply, looking disappointed.

"Maybe we can make her eat." Mena said viciously. Helen looked thoughtful again. "Maybe we can convince her to eat." She turned to the monster, "does your baby need human meat?" she asked.

The Creeper blinked and shrugged its shoulders. Apparently it didn't know.

Mena chewed slowly and glanced at the girl. "I kinda keep forgetting she's preggers." She said. "She's still small."

"Yeah, Helen agreed, "but she'll show soon enough." She grinned, "And then we get a wee winged beastie to play with. Good job daddy" She elbowed the Creeper and he grinned as well.

Mena suddenly asked something, as if she remembered it just now. "How come she's pregnant and we're not?" she demanded. Helen digested the question, wondering too. She looked at the Creeper, who shrugged again.

"Smells," he paused, inhaled deeply, "smells good. Like ripe." He seemed to have trouble explaining it.

"So how many other women do you know smell like her?" The Creeper shook his head, "none."

"None in your entire life?" Helen demanded amazed. The Creeper shook his head. "Can't…remember many. Smells like, different." He went back to eating.

Helen turned to Mena, "so she's really one in a million," she added as a subtle warning, "A rare toy, don't break it."

Mena grinned her mischievous grin, "at least not physically."


	7. Chapter 7

PART 7

Maria did not wake for a while. When she did she wished she didn't

She was crying before she even knew why. When she was fully awake she remembered and cried even more.

Her face was still on the table. She was feeling so sick, she could smell the wood subtly decaying, the sun that had bleached it and the rain that had corroded it. She could also smell blood, lots of it.

How she did this she did not know, she still cried softly, she decided she had to get up, her upper body hurt. It felt like she weighed a thousand pounds,

Still the young woman managed to drag herself up, and then froze in shock.

At first sight she thought he was killing, eating. Then she realized he was having sex with Mena.

The two rolled shamelessly on the table, Mena groaning unabashedly. Maria could only stare in frozen horror. Somehow this seemed worse than murder, it was more…obscene. Mena caught sight of a pale shocked face peering at her from the end of the table. She smirked at Maria and bucked her hips deliberately against the monster. Maria was still frozen, too afraid even to whimper.

Despite all she had recently seen in the last few hours, and all the horrors before, this seemed to be worse somehow. She felt bad for his victims but this was so personal, memories and flashbacks began to appear uncontrollably. In her mind's eye she saw herself on this ugly table, chained down, totally helpless and humiliated again. Mena seemed to be waiving trauma triggers in her face. Living breathing sexual horror was a few inches in front of her nose, writhing and groaning.

Frantically, but quietly the girl began looking for a way to escape, she didn't want to draw his attention. She jerked her hands up desperately and the chains pulled them back to the chair. She squirmed, tilted and nearly fell over. Her legs were similarly chained. She could push her chair away from the writhing couple, which was a relief to her senses. But she could not do much else.

The urge to scream was powerful, she barely managed to suppress it. She wanted to call for help, but knew from experience that was useless. She didn't want the monster drawn to her in any way.

She tried working the chains, but she had no idea how what to do and her panic was only making it worse. Finally with a small distressed sob she let her arms and legs drop pathetically, making a soft ringing sound as she did so.

Maria felt like a rag doll, she knew she was utterly completely helpless. He might be done at any moment, then come to her, smiling his wicked smile as he took advantage of her inability to move.

She managed to lift her head, sending a silent plea. Mena could see her eyes shining underneath her curtain of hair. She merely stretched her smirk across her face and put her arms possessively around him. She wanted to taunt her more, but she was a little distracted at the moment...

A sudden hand on Maria's shoulder made her jump. Helen's hand encircled her round shoulder like a claw, digging in. "I'll take you out and we'll go in another room, you won't cry, and you won't try and run away. Understood?"

Maria nodded so frantically it looked like her head would fall off. Helen could hear a snort of laughter from Mena on the table and a growl from the distracted monster. Helen bent down and undid her feet first, then her hands, taking a little more time than necessary

When she was finally finished Maria jumped out of the chair like it was red hot. Helen kept an arm on her and steered her toward a room. The girl seemed too shocked to make a break for it, but just in case Helen hissed in her ear. "Don't distract him, he might decide to go after _you_." She wanted to add that Mena wouldn't be too happy either, but she decided against it.

The girl spared a glance at the writhing couple. She hunched her shoulders and docilely followed Helen into the next room.

He came, with Mena panting beneath him. He had already taken care of her a few seconds before.

"That was fun, let's do it again sometime." Mena said. He wheezed with laughter.

The lust was still in his eyes. As was the hunger. Mena shivered and writhed in that gaze. She knew, she _knew_ deep down inside that he wanted her for more than just a roll on the table. _Carnal desires. Funny how carnal basically means meat._

When she regained some kind of awareness of the world around her she realized he was sniffing, but he wasn't sniffing her. Puzzled she arched her back to better look at what he was sniffing at. He was still on top of her, and inside of her mostly, so the movement she made felt awkward.

What she saw puzzled her even more. He was sniffing the table, the one small space devoid of any blood. As nice as their little romp was, Mena was getting tired of feeling sticky blood on her back and rough splinters in her ass. She tried struggling up from underneath him.

"Wait." He ordered "stay." In never occurred to Mena to disobey him. The lust seemed to have regenerated in him, she felt him harden inside of her. He gave the table one long last sniff.

Before the harsh, wonderful pounding drove out all coherent thought Mena came to a realization. _"That's where Maria was_._"_

The crying started out slowly and quietly, but it was quickly increasing in volume. Helen tolerated it at first, but regretted not nipping it in the bud sooner. The more she let her cry the harder it would be.

"SHUT UP!" she yelled. Maria jumped. Helen wasn't as irritated as she let on, she just wanted to end the crying quickly. Maria jumped back into a corner as if she had been slapped. She looked at Helen with a half-frightened half-pleading look, as if begging not to be attacked.

Helen decided to take pity, in her own way.

"When's the last time you've eaten?" she demanded. Maria winced again, but did not speak. She watched the older woman warily, as if she would get up and attack her at any moment.

Helen demanded an answer again.

The question began to penetrate her terror-clogged mind, her brain searched for food related memories. All that she could come up with was the Creeper eating from a corpse. She shrugged helplessly, feeling nauseous.

"Wait here." Helen ordered curtly, and she left the room.

Maria sat in the corner of the dark little room, paralyzed. The kerosene lamp was the only source of light. Faintly she could hear the sounds of moaning and grunting in the other room, she quickly shifted the focus of her mind on something else.

She thought of Helen, her cold pretty face looking down upon her in what she thought was disgust. Why did she ask if she's eaten? She thought of Helen's sweet voice and seeming concern at her house, a thing Maria now knew to be false. She remembered how she tried so hard to stop her from leaving, her taunting of Maria's fears, her mocking laughter. Her horrible idea of cutting off her feet. Her eating from a corpse.

Suddenly Maria jolted upward in realization. _When was the last time you've eaten?_ Helen was going to make her eat human flesh.

Panicking, the girl stood up and headed towards the door, then remembering what was on the other side of it, stopped abruptly and paced restlessly.

She would not eat human beings, that much was clear. As scared as she was of Helen she would fight back, even if she called in the Creeper, which the girl now knew the older woman could do.

It seemed like a while, but in reality it was only a few minutes. Helen came back in, the erotic sounds from the other side of the door where reaching their climax. Maria decided to stay huddled in the corner.

"Here," Helen said abruptly. "Eat"

She put something big and square on the ground and kicked it toward Maria with her good leg.

The girl looked down. It was so mind-bogglingly normal and non-scary she giggled. Then she suppressed her laugh when she detected a note of hysteria in it. It was a pizza box. Cheap white grease-soaked cardboard with the ridiculously stereotypical Italian chef on the cover. Pizza.

She felt the urge to laugh again, but the urge died when she thought of what Helen might have done to it before giving it to her. She glanced up and saw Helen glaring at her sternly. With some trepidation she opened the box.

Apparently unable to sustain her stern façade any while longer Helen burst into mocking laughter.

Maria gave a small shaky smile of relief. At least their were no human eyeballs or anything like that on it though she wouldn't put it past them if there was something else awful in it. She peered at the pizza as carefully as she could in the dim kerosene lamp light.

"Eat!" Helen ordered suddenly making Maria jump again. The older woman gave her big off-putting smile again. "You haven't eaten since-" she cocked her head in thought, "since yesterday." She concluded with some surprise.

Maria looked down at the pizza again. It looked okay, she guessed. In some vague way she knew her stomach was empty but she didn't really care. She tried a cold slice. It was thick and very greasy. Satisfied, Helen left the room.

The girl wondered idly where this could have come from. She managed to get the first slice down and was working on the second when she suddenly remembered: _I think Mena said they were going to order a pizza boy._

She nearly choked.

The memories of the two men on the old dining table. One already dead, one pulled apart screaming. _Don't think about it. Don't think about people being eaten in front of you. The chunky red sauce that now reminds you of blood._

Nauseated, she put the crust back in the box. Her body might have been hungry but she couldn't eat another bite. She pushed the box away, tried to lie down for a minute.

Helen came back and saw her push the food away. She looked down into the box. "You've hardly eaten anything." She said, disapproval lacing her voice.

_What are you my mother? _She asked silently, then immediately veered her thoughts away from that subject. She wiped her tangled hair from her face. "Tired", was all she managed to say. Helen made a disapproving noise but did not press the subject. At least she wasn't whining, or crying, or begging to be let go. She did look tired, despite the fact she had done nothing all day.

"There's still a great party you're missing out on," Helen mocked as a small satisfied moan came from the other room. Maria curled up in disgust. Helen gave her cruel laugh, "Suit yourself then, Party Pooper." She tossed her some blankets and cushions and left once again. To Maria's relief she did not return.

She was so tired. Horrors swirled in her mind, but it was just a nightmare wasn't it? It was all just a bad dream and she would wake up fine tomorrow. She stretched out on the cushions, they smelled and felt like half their stuffing was ripped away. Spiders crawled under her skin, crows swirled around her head. She kept seeing the blood, over and over again, and she was chained helpless, but it was all just a bad dream…

Helen walked out, feeling the pain steadily worsen in her leg. Despite taunting Maria she had to admit it was late, and despite herself she was a little tired. Maybe she should lie down too…

Mena was nowhere to be seen,_ heh, probably still pulling the splinters outta her butt. _The Creeper was still at the table, examining a leftover head with a weird intensity.

He kept turning the head around, sniffing it passionately. Sometimes he closed his eyes as he smelled, as if highlighting the exquisiteness of the scent. Helen wasn't as surprised as she was the first time, but it was still so disconcerting. Without a small happy sound he flipped the face toward him and passionately dug in the mouth.

_He has no idea how utterly __**weird**__ that looks. Like he's making out with it or something. _She sat down gingerly next to the monster. _Eh, I doubt he would care anyway_. She continued to watch in amusement. Suddenly the monster got up, slurping down the tongue as it did so. It seemed agitated, as if pulled in different direction as once. It looked like it wanted to chase after Mena again, then it started to head toward Maria's room, then stopped himself and looked at his tools, finally it sat down again and started working on the head.

Even as it worked it started brushing against Helen, kept returning to her scent, sniffing and licking. His eyes were wide and glittering with lust. The woman pretended to be tolerantly amused at first, but she couldn't help responding and she felt her body heat up. She ran her fingertips across the harsh wrinkled face; "Someone's feeling their oats today." He ripped off her pants before she could blink, and rubbed himself against her good leg. "Sowing them too…" He mashed his face against her cleft with such force she fell off the chair. She through out her arm and caught herself and managed a "oh shit…" before he drove her to the point beyond words.

The monster was always energetic, even before the "breeder" came along, but Helen was still shocked at the way he so greedily embedded his tongue and slurped at her. He grabbed her by the thighs and lifted her up higher to gain complete access.

Helen braced herself against the inevitable pain in her hip but it soon melted in the wave of lust and pleasure she received when the Creeper caught her gaze and held it, while slowly running his tongue over her.

"Ahhh, oooh guh-god!" Helen managed to get out. She felt his grin against her briefly before he continued onward. He plunged in again working the tongue inside and out. Helen screamed and wrapped her good leg around his neck urging him in further. He extended his tongue to its full, prodigious length inside of her. He held it there teasingly for a moment then continued with his frenzied licking and sucking.

When Helen came quickly afterwards he rose up to his knees, showing her the proud erection he now sported. Helen stared at it with undisguised greed. The monster's eyes roamed over her body with the exact same expression.

He took one moment, tantalizingly drawing it out, of licking the juice off his face before he lunged at the woman with the same ferocity. He threw her good leg over his shoulder and while he treated the damaged one a bit more gently it too was positioned on his shoulder. He wanted complete access.

Helen didn't know how many times she came that night. When her back wasn't arched, when she wasn't screaming herself hoarse, when she could focus on his face she saw a powerful determination, fueled entirely by lust. She moaned while propping herself to look at him he continued to hold her legs and pounded away.

It turned her on immensely to know that she was the object of the creature's powerful attention. No woman, no human being in fact, could have resisted this attention, whether it was fueled by lust or hunger or both (as she suspected a little in her case). She couldn't stop him even if she wanted too. He would continue onwards, pounding away. She curled her toes and used that knowledge to fuel another incoming wave of pleasure.

The monster was continuing onward at the same steady rhythm but Helen could see its eyes widen, he opened his mouth as he inhaled deeply. She could see his sharp teeth glisten. His pace increased, Helen cried out and held onto his arms. His thrusts became more ferocious and she cried out for a final time, helplessly caught in the wake of the monsters furious pace and wild pleasure. He roared when he came his thrusts shaking his human partner like a rag doll then collapsed, still quivering in pleasure.

The monster let her legs slide down gently onto the concrete floor. She saw him catch his breath, sweat dripped from his body onto hers. He laid his head on her stomach, just below her breasts, she touched it fondly and wrapped her legs around his waist, her inner muscles also gave him a squeeze. He gave a wheezy chuckle.

Just as suddenly he seemed to regain his breath. He leaped up with incredible energy, grabbed her again and began licking away some of the excess that dripped down her thighs.

_Damn,_ thought Helen in a state of exhausted surprise. It was unbelievable how much vigor the creature possessed. A human man would be utterly, completely wiped out, provided he even lasted this long. She let out a giggle as his tongue did his work He continued is inevitable sniffing, as if there was something in the air that drove his frenzy.

When he was done he set her legs down again, (Helen winced again as some of the hip pain came back) and looked at her in a moment of curiosity. Then in an abruptness that mirrored his other actions he left her, and dashed up the wall like a spider.

Helen lifted a hand as much as she could, "I'll just, uh, stay here then." she said, her energy utterly drained, her hand flopped back down onto the floor.

She wasn't offended by his sudden departure, she knew his habits already. If he was hungry enough he just left, sometimes right in the middle of a conversation, and considering how hyperactive and distracted he seemed lately it wasn't surprising. _Besides_, she grinned, _I'm in no position to complain about anything right now_. Helen gave a contended sigh.

A pair of smaller-sounding footsteps caught her attention. She twisted around as far as her hip would allow her, think Maria was trying to sneak out, but she saw it was Mena.

Her niece had a towel wrapped around her body, and one wrapped around her head, obviously she just came back from the corroded valve "shower" that constantly leaked river water. She grinned down at Helen. "So I see you got the full monster body work-over." Helen writhed on the concrete floor "Yeaaaah," she drawled out, "good for what ails ya, just wish he didn't want to get horizontal on **this** floor"

Mena shook her head. "You should have done it on the table then, just kick the head aside and instant love-nest, easier on your bones too." She held out a hand.

Helen took it, "What and get splinters all over my body? I don't think so." Mena helped her up, "Concrete may be hard on your bones but it's better than ending up like _you, _cactus-butt." Mena gave a pretend shove and Helen nearly pulled them both to the floor. They doubled over in laughter.

Maria twitched and frowned in her sleep, but did not wake up. Nightmares were inevitable, but they would just be a blur in the morning, she was far too tired to wake.

In one nightmare a huge spider skittered across the floor towards her bed. She could hear it's heavy breathing, see the spiny shadows it cast on the wall. It breathed in deeply; she shuddered at its touch. Through the lacework of her knitted blanket she could see the spider's wide eyes gleaming at her.

The last thing she saw before she awoke fully and realized it was not a nightmare was his hand covering the kerosene lamp, smothering out all light.

"So where is he?" Mena asked.

A short surprised scream rang out from Maria's room, followed by the sounds of a brief but intense struggle.

Both women burst out laughing at the same time.


End file.
